Shame on WWE for making their product in 2004 one of the worst of all time! From 2002 – 2003 Smackdown once was the A-show because we had the best physical competition and the best starts. Not anymore because the moment Brock Lesnar left the company after Wrestlemania and made Eddie Guerrero drop the belt to John Bradshaw Layfield for the rest of 2004 was absolutely terrible. You would have thought that Undertaker’s return as the Deadman would have save the brand, but no, it got worse as he kept losing to JBL in a series of screwy finishes. Plus when Kurt Angle returned from a neck injury, his only opponent throughout 2004 was with Eddie Guerrero. Like it was nice to see him square off against Eddie since Wrestlemania but to do it throughout the rest of 2004 got REALLY stale. This is when Smackdown lost all credibility and became a worse show than Raw. Triple H’s reign of terror never stopped in 2004 and it was so bad. Kicking Randy Orton out of Evolution just to to push him as the babyface of the Raw brand fell completely flat on its face as Triple H just buried Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship. And that wasn’t the worst that Raw offered. The Kane and Lita marriage and miscarriage was the most distasteful storyline I’ve seen since Katie Vick. Like this soap opera drama for raping Lita and then turning babyface because she had a miscarriage had no place being in wrestling it sucked more as it continued. WWE in 2004 lost a whole lot of viewers where Vince was really feeling the downfall of the post-Attitude era like never before. So where did all those wrestling fans gone to? Well, this is where TNA Wrestling and Ring of Honor gathered the most loyal, die-hard fans imaginable. ROH finally got it’s idenity by being the American pure wrestling promotion that smartmarks dream of having and TNA finally got out of the TNA Asylum and moved ot Universal Studios Orlando, Florida and got out of the Weekly Pay Per View model and started doing monthly PPVs as they should.
The Year 2004 Wrestling Rewards
- Wrestler of 2004: Kenta Kobashi
- Underrated Wrestler of 2004: Petey Williams
- Feud of 2004: Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley / Triple X vs. America’s Most Wanted
- Wrestling Match of 2004: Triple X vs. America’s Most Wanted – 6-Sides Steel Cage – Turning Point 2004 / Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk – ROH World Championship – ROH Joe vs. Punk II
- Wrestling Promotion of 2004: Pro Wrestling Noah
Number 10. – TNA Weekly PPV #97
June 2, 2004
You have to admit that despite all the whacky shit that TNA has thrown at its audience, they had some really cool shit. The TNA Weekly PPVs, despite being mostly bad at times, you got to admit they make really creative concepts and stipulations that make wrestling fun again. If you put a gun to my head and ask me what is the best TNA Weekly Pay-Per-View during the TNA Asylum-era, it has to be the June 2, 2004 episode. Why? Because this was the first time TNA treated this PPV not an ordinary televised show but instead a proper pay-per-view. How’s that you may ask? Well every single TNA Championship belt was on the line here. Kazarian defends his X Division Championship against The Amazing Red, NWA World Tag Team belts had Dallas & Kid Kash defending their titles against Dusty Rhodes and James Storm, and our NWA World Heavyweight Championship match had Raven vs. Ron Killings vs. Chris Harris vs. AJ Stlyzes vs. Jeff Jarrett in the first ever King of the Mountain match. Thank God that this is the first time all of the matches were booked to be a worthwhile show. Sure there were unmemorable matches and a squash match with Abyss, but the main event is what stole the show. Every TNA-hater would love to pick on King of the Mountain match but it was an original concept that you have to be eligible to go up the ladder by pinning or submit someone, put them in a penalty box for a couple of minues, just to put the belt up the strap hanging on the ceiling. Yes, you do put the belt up instead of removing it. The fact that all five men have to get a fall for eligibility to hang the strap is almost like placing a flag on top the mountain to be the victor. Yes, it was bullshit that Jeff Jarrett won as usual, but it was a creative and wild ladder match as you can get. I loved every single moment of that match before the ending. This would have to be the last good event before the promotion moved out of the TNA Asylum and grow bigger as a company in Orlando months later.
Number 9. – Wrestlemania XX
I never want to ever hear again about the falsehood of this so-called “special night.” Wrestlemania XX once was a triumph, but then turned into a complete tragedy. Everyone is always raving about how good Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit Family Killer winning the WWE’s top championships was the best moment in history, but it really wasn’t. The crowd were almost asleep when watching the triple threat main event. All because they put all of their energy on hating against Lesnar and Goldberg which is the WORST WRESTLEMANIA MATCH OF ALL TIME!!! HHH vs HBK vs Benoit Family Killer was a snore-fest of a main event. And it’s all Vince’s fault for making the event go over three hours. And what’s even sadder is that Wrestlemanias after this got unnecessarily longer after this. Wrestlemania now is stretched out to two nights in a row. So many matches in the card just don’t make any sense like having identical four-team four-corner tag team title matches from both Raw and Smackdown, Evolution beating Rock n’ Sock in a fluke of a finish, Jericho losing to Christian and Trish’s heel turn could have been handled better, and Rey Mysterio not winning the Cruiserweight Championship for the second Wrestlemania in a row was just absolutely stupid. Can we also get back to Lesnar vs Goldberg again? What in fuck’s name was anyone thinking to announce both of their departures after Wrestlemania XX? You’ve made the entire wrestling community shit on them so much that they couldn’t wrestle properly. It was a miracle that they both sold Austin’s stunner at the end because they could have broken kayfabe and ruin wrestling far worse than they already did. To see them stand awkwardly in the middle of the ring felt like an eternity to do anything and finish the goddamn match. Wrestlemania XX shortcoming is an example of why WWE in 2004 absolutely sucked! For everyone that kept on saying that Wrestlemania XX is the best show of 2004, that proves how REALLY bad WWE in 2004 truly was! Once Goldberg and Lesnar left the company, our “main eventers’” championship reigns were brief and not noteworthy. Guerrero lost to JBL in just months after WMXX and became the worst WWE champion of all time. And once Chris Benoit Family Killer lost his World title against Randy Orton, his career never recovered. And oh yeah, did you forgot that Randy Orton’s World title reign was only a transitional championship reign to give it back to Triple H? Oh, and Chris Benoit Family Killer killed his family years later… so enjoy seeing his lost-wife and lost-son celebrating his victory in the ring and wonder why he did it. That still give me nightmares re-watching it, remembering what he did, and even think about it.
Number 8. – No Way Out
What really sucks is that this is the last good Smackdown exclusive show ever. We had a fun run with Smackdown from 2002-2003 and up to this point this was the very last time Smackdown was actually quality viewing until Brock Lesnar left the company and Smackdown’s starpower starts to take a downfall by a whole country mile. Before Smackdown turned into a laughing stock, they produced the very last good show under the Smackdown name. This was supposed to be the last PPV before Wrestlemania XX and you know what? This turned out to be far greater than 20th Wrestlemania. Having Eddie Guerrero beat Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship (thanks to Goldberg’s interference) was one of the most feel good moments in WWE history. Our first ever hispanic wrestler winning the company’s most prestigious title was an accomplishment that we rarely seen in wrestling. It’s so sad to say that that would be the last good Smackdown match for a long time because the WWF Championship scene wouldn’t look good ever again until the belt was switched over to Raw. Another great contender for second best match of the night was Kurt Angle becoming the Number 1 Contender for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania XX by beat Big Show and John Cena in a great physical match. Chavo Guerrero (with his father) beat Rey Mysterio for the Cruiserweight championship. Elsewhere Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty The Basham Brothers and Shaniqua in a 2-on-3 Handicap tag match to retain the WWE Tag Team titles (it was funny as hell to hear Shaniqua berate her bondage tag team for losing to Scotty 2 Hotty). Jamie Noble beat Nidia in an indergender match. Boy, Noble and Nidia had so much on-screen chemistry together that it was the funniest relationship in wrestling history. Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Hass beat the APA in a great match. And Hardcore Holly had his last good match with Rhyno after the failed push to face Brock Lesnar at the end. No Way Out had the best results to what is just the Smackdown’s build-up to Wrestlemania XX. As a middle of the road show, it was a last great one from Smackdown’s offering.
Number 7. – ROH Death Before
Dishonor II: Part One
I am never a fan of making a supercard, Pay-Per-View, or any wrestling event to be held in multiple nights. Because there no guarantee if one night is going to be better than the other. It gets very over-saturated to put that many hours onto an event that doesn’t really respect anyone’s time. Plus you’re going to make comparisons to whether or not one of those nights is better than the other instead of judgeing it as one show. So in deciding which of the two nights of the second ever Death Before Dishonor was, the first one was better. Every single match on Night One had no bad matches or and the booking was a good as it was. Go ahead and tell me that Homicide wasn’t a better contender for Samoa’s ROH World Championship than Colt Cabana (It wasn’t). Tell me the the Briscoes in a tag team against CM Punk and Colt Cabana wasn’t better than their individual singles match the night after (it wasn’t). Tell me Alex Shelly had a better match with Jimmy Jacobs than challenging Doug Williams for the Pure Championship (it wasn’t). And Holy Crap! Daivari actually had a good singles match against The Great Kazushi?! The only thing Night 2 had over the first Night was Doug Williams defended his ROH Pure Championship with a better opponent with Austin Aries. That is the one thing that makes dividing the second Death Before Dishonor so frustrating because you cannot judge both of them as one show. The last two matches in Night 1 is some of the best final matches on any ROH show. Two tremendous matches and no bad matches. Unfortunately, this woun’t be the last Death Before Dishonor that is split between two night and it didn’t have to be the case. Ring of Honor got very lucky with Punk and Joe’s ability to carry the promotion through rough waters, but they did it in spades, putting on great matches in the ring and showing an ability to tell a long-term story.
Number 6. – Victory Road
I’m so happy that Total Nonstop Action Wrestling finally made drastic changes to push the company forward by getting out of the dreadful TNA Asylum and also start doing Pay-per-views monthy instead of weekly. That way the company can build up to a supercard instead of making us buy a show that feel like a weekly program. That being said, some things never changed like Jeff Jarrett couldn’t help himself but to put himself over by beating Jeff Hardy in the main event for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Like you have the hottest ex-WWE wrestler in your roster and you couldn’t help yourself, Jeff but to bury him in your own reign of terror. As for the undercard, you couldn’t ask for a better booking than fixing the main event’s result. Compared to all of TNA’s 100+ Weekly PPVs, Victory Road 2004 is superior. This is one of the most professionally produced shows that a growing company like TNA has ever done. Just look at the booking of 3Live Kru vs Team Canada’s Eric You & Bobby Roode for the NWA Tag belts, the epic bout between Petey Williams defending his X Division championship against AJ Styles, or the climatic bout with America’s Most Wanted vs. Triple X in the Elimination Last Team Standing match? Without a doubt my match of the night is Raven vs. Abyss vs. Monty Brown in the first ever Monster’s Ball match. Talk about the best hardcore match that the company ever produced where we got to see our first thumbtacks spot where Abyss is powerbombed by Monty Brown. Fuck, look how good Monty Brown was back in the day. There’s a part of me that wishes that TNA made Victory Road as special as ECW’s Barely Legal because their first Pay-Per-View should have been a fantastic kick off. But unfortunately, Jeff Jarrett spoiling the run devalued TNA’s first ever monthly PPV into another night of Jarrett’s reign of terror. I wasn’t bad as Triple’s but TNA should have done the right thing and made Jeff Hardy the top star of the company.
Number 5. – Backlash
I can’t be the only one that sees Backlash as a superior show to the overrated Wrestlemania XX. Have any of you seen how intense, fastpaced, and fucking wild this post-Wrestlemania pay-per-view was. I can’t even believe that this was even a Raw-exclusive show considering how godawful they were in 2003. 2004 was no better, however, Backlash was the best booked show for the entirety of 2004. Almost everything that was left out in Wrestlemania XX was fully completed here. Go ahead and debate me if you like, but the Wrestlemania XX main event re-match between Triple H vs Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit Family Killer was a far superior match! Sometime the crowd reaction will always be the one thing that will make a match much greater. Unlike the half-dead audience at Wrestlemania XX (who wasted all of their enery throwing heat on the dissapointing Lesnar vs Goldberg match) everyone in Edminto, Alberta was on fire for their hometown hero. The best part of all was how much heat Shawn Michaels was getting for the Montreal Screwjob. Hearing “You screwed Bret” throughout the match made it a much engaging show. That was awesome that Michaels tapped out to the Sharpshooter as an act of revenger for the Canadian crowd for what Michaels did to breat and it felt so good. Despite seeing Chris Benoit Family Killer’s lost wife and son in ring side, the Backlash 2004 main event was a far superior and engaging match than Wrestlemania XX’s. But that wasn’t match of the night. I argue that Cactus Jack vs Randy Orton’s Hardcore match for the Intercontinental belt was the most violent match since the 6-man Hell in a Cell at Armegeddon 2000. The fact that Orton landed his bare back through the tacks from a reversed RKO and was tossed out of the titantron stand couldn’t be any more painful. This was the push that Orton needed to be a legitimate rookie. Sure Shetlon Benjamin beating Ric Flair, Jericho defeating both Christian and Trish Stratus, Victoria retains her Women’s belt from Lita, and Edge had a great victory against Kane, but nothing could top Cactus Jack vs. Randy Orton. That hardcore match made up for the dissapointing Evolution vs. Rock n’ Sock connection match at Wrestlemania XX. Deven if Coachman vs. Tajiri and Hurricane/Rosey vs La Resistance are two matches that nobody really cares out, Blacklash 2004 is one of the two only good shows in WWE’s 2004 calendar year. It’s is not a forgotten show but it is absolutely pathetic that wrestling fans still believe Wrestlemania XX was the best WWE PPV of 2004 while Backlash surpassed everything that any Wrestlemania could offer.
Number 4. – ROH Joe vs. Punk II
It’s not so often that an entire event is named after a bout between two competitors, but when they do, you know it should be a must see show. I honestly believe Ring of Honor would never be where they’re at right now if it weren’t for Samoa Joe & CM Punk carrying the company. They are two of the most important stars of the promotion that got every smartmark to believe in the promotion. The first Joe vs. Punk match was so special to every wrestling hipster’s hearts that the demand for the sequel was an all-time hight. The second bout in the Joe vs. Punk trilogy is without a doubt, the greatest American indie wrestling match of all time! Unlike every Ironman match ever been booked, this singles bout for the ROH World Championship was the best 1-hour match ever been booked. Both competitors had the conditioning and the passion to give everyone one of the best performances of a life-time. There were hardly any slow-downs, akward botches, or confusing spots that would dare hamper the expectation of fans. Just like the first time both of them face each other, their rematch had another time-limit draw. You couldn’t have a better finish that to make both Punk and Joe look absolutely strong and in that moment in time, they both looked like the greatest wrestlers who ever lived. It’s sad to say that Joe vs. Punk II is clearly a one-match show. The absense of of Bryan Danielson, Low-Ki, John Walters (Pure Champion at the time) Ricky Reyes, Austin Aries, Colt Cabana, Steve Corino, the Briscoes and many more weren’t booked in this match did knocked the show a bit. No one really is going out of tehir way to see Jay Lethal vs. Delirious, Tracy Brooks vs. Daizee Haze, Carnage Crew vs. Davey Andrews & TJ Dalton, Alex Shelly vs. Jimmy Jacobs, or the rest of the card. In all honestly, this is one of the greatest one-match shows of all time and I wish ROH was more consistent with booking more than just Joe vs. Punk’s rematch.
Number 3. – ROH All-Star
Extravaganza 2
2004 have been quite a frustrating year for all of us wrestling fans. There were very little promotions that were able to put out a consistent show and it sucked to high heaven that this calendar year for pro wrestling had more downs than up. Load and behold, ROH made a worth while show before 2004 came to a close. Not only were we were given the third and final act of the Joe vs. Punk trilogy, but the whole card was packed with great matches. I can understand that All-Star Extravaganza 2 is too long of a show so you can honestly kick the first three matches of the show and enjoy what else is offered here. Start with the Four-Corners Match between Alex Shelley (w/Roderick Strong) vs. 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Jay Lethal vs. Ace Steel because that’s when All-Star Extravaganza starts to get really good. If you want to skip to the good parts of the All-Star Extravaganza 2, you minus well start with John Walters vs. Jimmy Rave for the ROH Pure title as it was a great technical bout between two obscured wrestlers. Starting there will save you almost an hour of viewing. The ROH Tag Team Title match had The Havana Pitbulls take on Nigel McGuinness & Chad Collyer in a very solid match. Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson was a very technical bout that got everyone on the edge of their seats.Like every All-Star Extravaganza events we couldn’t have a special guest wrestling legend. We had Bobby Heenan being the manager for Colt Cabana & Jimmy Jacobs in a good tag bout with Rodgerick Strong & Jack Evan with Jim Cornette in their corner. My second favorite match of the night would have to be Austin Aries vs. Low Ki as it was a great fight between the two. Though I don’t agree that this match should of ended in a time-limit draw like Joe vs. Punk II did, but it showed how great of a talent Aries and Low Ki were as competitors and rising stars. And speaking of Joe vs. Punk, our main event had Joe vs. Punk III in a no time-limit match for the ROH World Championship. You would of thought that having no time-limit meant that it was gonna go over an hour this time, but (Surprise! Surprise!) it was only an half-an-hour and Samoa Joe came out as the better wrestler. Honestly out of the three matches, the third bout was the weakest considering that Punk didn’t reverse the coquina clutch like he did before and just passed out of the submission hold as an ultimate defeat. Well, it’s the end of the trilogy and a good match to go out on for Joe and Punk. I’d recommend you see the trilogy for an example of good storytelling from match to match, something of a dying art. At four hours (!) the show is just too bloated. I’m not sure what Gabe was thinking putting all this weight onto one show. It’s not that the individual matches weren’t good, but it’s the law of diminishing returns. By the end, you barely want to sit through the match that’s the whole reason for buying the damn thing. Despite being ROH’s best show of 2004 you have to give up a weekend to spend this just effort on just a show as long as this.
Number 2. – Turning Point
You have to remember that TNA went through a long journey of getting themselves into the number 2 promotion in North America. Their first monthly pay per view broke away from the TNA Asylum, start booking and producing competent shows, and start making a great alternative for wrestling fans everywhere. I’m proud to say that Turning Point 2004 is the show that put TNA on the map. The only thing that sucked about Turning Point 2004 is that this was the very last match Macho Man Randy Savage was booked in the show and it was his fault to only show up in the match between his team of Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles vs. Jeff Jarrett, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash. All he did was put one punch to Jarrett’s face and have a pinfall victory. And that was the end of Savage’s impecable career into ending it in a complete wimper. The rest of the Turning Point 2004 was FUN, FUN, FUN! Diamond Dallas Page vs Raven was a great call back to WCW Spring Stampede 1998, Petey Williams defending his X Division Championship against Chris Sabin was a great X Division bout, and Monty Brown vs. Abyss in the Seregeti Survival match was a great hardcore re-match from their Monster’s Ball match at Victory Road. Every tag team match in this card felt like filler, all except for the main event. That was Triple X vs. America’s Most Wanted in a Six-Side Steel Cage match. Throughout the TNA Asylum-era, Christopher Daniels, Elix Skipper, Chris Harris, and James Storm have been feuding throughout the era. Having this as their last ever match was an end of an era where whoever lost meant the tag team had to disband. I will always cherish this match with all of my heart because it was the feud that gathered TNA fans into the strongest fan-base I’ve ever seen in wrestling. All four of these men kept diving off the cage and had the hardest falling and landing I’ve ever seen. The highlight of the entire show had Elix Skipper walk on accross the top of the cage and effortlessly frankensteiner Chris Harris down the match. That was the spot of 2004 and it’s still one of my most re-played spots in all of wrestling. This very cage match always gets me emotional because never again will we see the TNA Asylum-era ever again as the promotion had to forward by ending Triple X. Only James Storm, Chris Harris and Christopher Daniels were able to make a good career after this match, while Skipper couldn’t recover from this defeat. It got really bad for him in 2009 when his son got shot and things never got better for the underrated Elix Skipper. Turning Point truly live up to its name as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling started to grow much larger and started to be the ultimate alternative to the WWE that WCW fans, ECW fans, and ex-WWE fans were searching for. Turning Point 2004 may not be a perfect show, but it had one of the best damn match in the company’s history, and one that the whole roster worked hard to lead up to.
Number 1. – NOAH Departure
We all know that Pro Wrestling NOAH was the best Japanese promotion from 2000 – 2004. Nostalgia is a powerful thing for Japanese wrestling fans, but to continue to use old faces from the 1990s and clash them with new faces in 2000s make a unique experience. It must feel absolutely rewarding to follow All-Japan Pro Wrestling from the 1990s to NOAH at this point because NOAH Departure is the peak of this fast-growing promotion. The fact that NOAH put all of their marbels on the line for the Tokyo Dome was a big thing for the promotion. It used to be a New-Japan territory (much like WWE once was to Madison Square Gardgen) but Departure gave the Tokyo Dome the best possible wrestling show in that venue. KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji defending the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Kendo Kashin (special guest from All-Japan) and Takashi Sugiura was one of the best GHC Jr. Tag team matches ever. NOAH tried their damnest to make the Jr. Tag Team division work and finally this little division of lightweight tag teams worked and became an attraction. Yoshinobu Kanemaru defending his GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship against New-Japan’s Jushin Thunder Liger was wild feud where it was up to Kanemaru to bring the title back to NOAH after New-Japan took the belt from the promotion. Minoru Suzuki and Yoshihiro Takayama did everything they’ve got to defend the IWGP Tag Team Championship from the felance forced of destruction at the time Takeshi Rikio and Takeshi Morishima on NOAH’s ground. This is one of those really great tag team matches that was hard hitting and had wonderful in-ring psychology. But our GHC Tag Team title match with Mitsuharu Misawa and All-Japan’s top draw (at the time) Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Keiji Mutoh and Taiyo Kea was a better tag team title match. And our main event was not only match of the night but also match of the year 2004. Kenta Kobashi defending his GHC Heavyweight Championship against Jun Akiyama. This very match between Kobashi vs. Akiyama is the very reason why Kobashi’s run with the GHC Heavyweight Championship is among the greatest Championship run in all of Professional Wrestling. Go see Akiyama vs Kobashi and see what defending your title belt against a more than worthy competitor is all about. And it’s sad that this is the last good show for Pro Wrestling NOAH because after this show, NOAH starts to go in cruise control with no title changes and barely any storylines or feuds to get wrestling fans as interested as they were here at this time. Because NOAH from 2005 to now is a shell of its former self is why Departure in 2004 is held in high regards. Go ahead and watch Departure 2004 at its entirety and see why NOAH once as the best promotion in Japan.
The Top Lister 