Royal Rumble (2004)

Infobox Wrestling event
name=Royal Rumble (2004)


theme="Nothing Left to Lose" (Puddle of Mudd) [cite web|url=http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/wwf/wwfother.htm|title = Wrestling Information Archive - Other WWF Information|accessdate=2008-03-01]
promotion=World Wrestling Entertainment
brand=Raw
SmackDown!
date=January 25 2004
venue=Wachovia Center
city=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
attendance=17,289 [cite web|url=http://prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wwf/rumble.html#2004|title=Royal Rumble 2004 Results|accessdate=2008-03-01|publisher=Pro Wrestling History]
lastevent=Armageddon (2003)
nextevent=No Way Out (2004)
event=Royal Rumble
lastevent2=Royal Rumble (2003)
nextevent2=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.

Results

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.

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.

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.
*Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff had a brawl before the Royal Rumble match, Steve Austin interrupted and gave them both Stunners

References

External links

* [http://www.wwe.com/shows/royalrumble/history/1988118/ Official 2004 Royal Rumble website]
*cite news|title=2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts|work=Wrestling’s Historical Cards|publisher=Kappa Publishing|year= 2007|pages=114
* [http://www.twnpnews.com/information/rumble.shtml twnpnews.com - Royal Rumble]