March 14th, 2004
Location: New York City
Venue: Madison Square Garden
Attendance: 18,500
Theme songs: "Step Up" by Drowning Pool; "Touche" by Godsmack
Welcome to 2004, as it was another milestone year for the WWE. For the 20th time, they welcomed the world to another WrestleMania. Once again, WWE would return to Madison Square Garden in New York City to reminisce and honor where it all began.
As special as this WrestleMania was, it hurts knowing that the legacy it left behind would need to be forgotten.
Instead of using the small little alleyway as they did for WrestleManias 1 and 10, WWE took the time to build a nice stage with a ramp. The New York skyline was created using LED boards, and the little entrance used before had an LED monitor to show the fans what match was happening.
WrestleMania 20 also was the start of a tradition that many people hate and I love. Beginning at the Royal Rumble, all the way until the big day at every televised event, a giant sign of the current WrestleMania logo would be hung in the rafters, opposing the stage. Many superstars would begin pointing to it over the years to enhance their storylines. Complain all you want; it's amazing.
On a smaller note, WWE legend Howard Finkel would ring announce his final WrestleMania as from here on out, he would only appear to help honor that year's Hall of Fame inductees.
"America the Beautiful" would open up the show, as tradition, and by sung by the "Boys Choir of Harlem." It's a shame I couldn't find the performance anywhere on YouTube or other video streaming sites to show it here because it was a fantastic performance.
If you have the WWE Network or know somebody who has it on DVD, check it out. Highly recommend it.
The opening package that followed showed how much WrestleMania had grown in 20 years, symbolizing the importance of the flagship show. The current superstars also shared thoughts on the big event while preparing the crowd for what to expect.
As the pyro went off inside Madison Square Garden and 12 matches scheduled, the grand spectacle was underway and started off with a bang.
Making his WrestleMania debut, a young rapper named John Cena would be introduced first and challenging the Big Show for the United States Championship (also appearing at its first WrestleMania).
Cena would grab a microphone and spit a few [fire] lines on his opponent, calling him a gorilla and other things. He would end up grabbing his brass knuckles, punching Big Show with them, and winning the title. John Cena would start his WrestleMania journey on a high note, and it would only get higher from there.
Moving along, former best friends Christian and Chris Jericho met at WrestleMania after a bet gone wrong to see who can date Trish Stratus. She would end up fancying Jericho, which got Christian jealous.
In their match, Stratus came running in and accidentally elbowed Jericho. Christian won the match, Trish turned on Jericho, and the two would make out at the top of the ramp in front of Y2J. Isn't it great when your crush ends up with somebody else?
Mick Foley was having problems with Raw's biggest faction, "Evolution," specifically, Randy Orton. When Ric Flair, Batista, and Orton were teaming up on Foley, the hardcore legend brought back an old partner.
The Rock came to Foley's aid, and the old tag team of the "Rock 'n' Sock Connection" was reunited. A 3-on-2 handicap match was set for WrestleMania, and Foley would wrestle his first match in four years.
Orton would hit an RKO out of nowhere on Foley and would pick up the win for Evolution. Not a bad WrestleMania debut for Orton and Batista, right?
Before the next set of matches, the WWE honored their newest members to their Hall of Fame. Starting in 2004, it would be an annual tradition to add new members to the hall and be honored at WrestleMania.
Brock Lesnar and Goldberg went one-on-one with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the special guest referee. However, once everybody found out they were leaving the WWE after WrestleMania 20, the two put on a half-effort performance and had fans chanting "boring" and "Na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye."
Goldberg would win the match. Austin would give them both a Stone Cold Stunner on their way out. Thankfully, 13 years later, they redeemed themselves in a very big way.
Finally, the last match to note was the Women's Championship in which Victoria was defending her title against Molly Holly. If Holly were unsuccessful in winning the title, her head would be shaved in a weird stipulation.
She lost, and Victoria strapped her to a barber's chair, and all the hair was gone. That was something?
With most of the undercard out of the way, it's now time for the three things that stood out to me from WrestleMania 20.
The dead has risen
If there's one thing that Vince McMahon loves doing in WWE, it's to have a problem with one of his employees and fight them.
This time, he would go head-to-head with The Undertaker. A fine choice if you ask me. It's not like he's been a dominant figure in history and ran over anybody who got in his way.
McMahon was trying to find any opportunity to make sure that 'Taker was not WWE Champion. At No Mercy 2003, McMahon screwed him as Lesnar retained the WWE Championship.
To prevent Undertaker from getting another opportunity, SmackDown General Manager Paul Heyman was ordered by McMahon to put him in outrageous matches and stipulations. Should Undertaker survive all of that, he would be able to ask for any match he wanted at Survivor Series.
The Undertaker got through everything, and instead of asking for a WWE Championship opportunity, he asked for McMahon in a Buried Alive match. The object of the match is exactly what you think it entails. The first person to put their opponent in the grave, set up in the arena, and bury them alive, wins.
Near the end of the match, Undertaker's brother, Kane, interfered and threw him inside the grave, asking the bulldozer in the arena to drop a large amount of dirt inside. McMahon won the match, and The Undertaker would disappear from WWE TV.
At the 2004 Royal Rumble, Kane was running through everybody in the Royal Rumble match. When it was time for the 19th entrant to come in, a gong went off in the arena, and the lights turned out. Kane began to freak out and yell out, "I buried you alive!" With no other indication, Kane was eliminated by Booker T, which was the end of it.
In the weeks leading up to WrestleMania, the gong would go off again, and cryptic messages began to appear on Monday Night Raw. The statement, "The dead will rise again," was appearing week after week, counting down to WrestleMania.
Aside from the jumbotron's messages, mysterious objects showed up, and occurrences would happen in the ring with Kane in it.
For example, one week, the ring would begin to move as lightning struck the posts. Another, a casket was inside the ring, and when Kane went to open it, he'd find a gold urn.
In the final week, two of Undertaker's symbols burst into flames and hung in the area. Whatever was going on, Kane had to deal with it at WrestleMania, whether he liked it or not.
The time came, and once Kane came out, he waited in the ring, pacing back and forth and thinking none of it was real. When the gong went off and the lights turned out, a familiar face came out with the creatures of the night holding torches. Next thing you know, in one of the best WrestleMania returns of all time, the dead had risen.
The Undertaker said goodbye to his "American Badass" biker gimmick and returned to what he was known best as, "The Deadman."
The match was short, but like their WrestleMania 14 encounter, The Undertaker would get revenge on his brother for messing with him.
It may not have been a great match, but none the less, it was another win at WrestleMania. The undefeated streak grew to 12-0, and the Prince of Darkness had returned to terrorize the WWE.
"Eddie wins! Eddie wins!"
Who doesn't love a good Cinderella story? Or a feel-good moment? While these are generally reserved for WrestleMania, the month before at SmackDown exclusive's No Way Out pay-per-view had a great moment involving a man who lied, cheated, and stole his way to our hearts.
Eddie Guerrero had an opportunity to win his first WWE Championship when he won a 15-man Royal Rumble match on SmackDown. His opponent would be Brock Lesnar, who regained the WWE Championship in September.
In the title match, Lesnar was ready to win before Goldberg from Raw appeared at No Way Out and speared the champion, leaving Guerrero with one of the biggest opportunities of a lifetime. Guerrero would hit Lesnar with the title and climbed to the ropes and hit his frog splash.
In one of the biggest surprises in WWE history, Eddie Guerrero, the underdog, won his only WWE Championship.
Fans in San Francisco went nuts, and Guerrero went jumping into the crowd. He would have a celebration on the next SmackDown with confetti and fireworks and was on top of the world.
Before the Guerrero/Lesnar bout at No Way Out, Kurt Angle won a triple threat match against Big Show and John Cena to determine who would be the number one contender for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania.
Despite Angle and Guerrero being buddies, once the match was set, Kurt turned on Eddie and made one thing clear, he wanted to be WWE Champion.
Once again, WWE began to push the envelope when Angle got on the microphone and stated how a "former drug addict" shouldn't be WWE Champion, referring to Guerrero's past troubles with drugs.
At WrestleMania, the two displayed an incredible technical match, showing their roots in the art of wrestling. However, if there's one thing that Eddie was known for, it's that he always loved to find a way to gain the upper hand to win the match. He was a sneaky wrestler, and we loved him for it.
Kurt began to apply his signature Ankle Lock to Guerrero, weakening his ankle and making him tap out. When Guerrero escaped the hold and threw Angle out the ring, he began to untie his shoelaces from his boot with a face of agony, to the confusion of everybody. Guerrero would hold his ankle in pain, and Angle wanted to take advantage of it.
The challenger came right back in and applied the Ankle lock again. All of a sudden, Eddie found a way to push his shoe off, which left Angle holding it.
Eddie quickly rolled him up with Kurt looking confused and picked up the win to retain his WWE Championship.
Eddie ran out of the ring, title in hand, and showed nothing wrong with his ankle. Eddie stole yet another win and continued his reign as WWE Champion.
The erased memory
This last point will be hard to write and potentially controversial. However, I can't emphasize enough that I'm talking about what happened in the past. We can't erase what happened in history, as much as we want to or need to, for that matter.
This is the story of a man who would rise to the top of WWE without knowing the horror that would follow.
In the 2004 Royal Rumble match, Chris Benoit entered in the number one position. With this being the 17th edition, the record showed that only one man who entered at number one would end up going the distance and winning it all. That man was Shawn Michaels in 1995.
Benoit would make history when he became the second man to accomplish the feat, eliminating Big Show to book his ticket to WrestleMania.
It had been a long time coming for a number one entrant to win the Royal Rumble. It turns out Benoit was the right man for it.
Before Benoit's achieving moments that night, Triple H and Shawn Michaels continued their bitter rivalry that lasted nearly two years and battled in a Last Man Standing Match for the World Heavyweight Championship.
After 22 minutes, neither man could get up before the referee's count of ten, and the match ended in a draw. Thanks to the draw, Triple H was still World Heavyweight Champion.
If you read my WrestleMania 19 review, you'll remember I said when Brock Lesnar won the Rumble match in 2003, he was forced to face his brand exclusive champion. As Lesnar belonged to SmackDown, his opponent was Kurt Angle.
In a plot twist, it was never the case as the Rumble rule only stated "world champion," never specifying if the champion was from Raw or SmackDown.
The following night on Raw after the Royal Rumble, SmackDown's own Chris Benoit appeared and jumped brands, stating he wanted Triple H at WrestleMania.
However, because the Last Man Standing match ended in a draw, the "Sheriff" of Raw (who so happened to be everybody's favorite beer drinker, Stone Cold Steve Austin) stated that Michaels deserved another opportunity for Triple H's world championship. Unfortunately, it wouldn't happen as Benoit had to be next in line for the title.
A few weeks later, when Benoit and Triple H were about to sign the contract for WrestleMania and make it official, Shawn came out stating that he needed this chance to take down his bitter rival and asked Benoit to relinquish his opportunity to him.
Do you think Benoit would say yes? Would anybody say yes to that? If you would give up your opportunity to be at the top of the company just because a colleague asked, please, let me know.
Michaels understood, kicked Benoit in the face, and signed the contract himself. Because Michaels signed on the dotted line, General Manager Bischoff said it was official. Instead, he would ask Benoit and Michaels to fight for the opportunity.
Being the arrogant champion, Triple H interfered in the match and knocked them both out. Sheriff Austin didn't like that and announced that the world title was to be defended for the first time at WrestleMania in a triple threat match.
It would be Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit vs. Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship.
In a triple threat match, there are no count-outs or disqualifications. Anything went. If you thought this would be a traditional and clean main event, you would be mistaken.
All three men gave you a reason to be at the edge of your seat and give you the impression they would win. When I was 10 watching this, I went nuts hoping and thinking that Michaels would win, and he came so very close.
The match turned bloody when Michaels' head collided with the ring post and cracked wide open. Triple H as well began to bleed when he slammed onto a ring post himself.
Near the end of the match, Michaels and Triple H suplexed Benoit onto SmackDown's commentary table, leaving them both in the middle of the ring to try and wrap up the match with a win.
When Triple H connected with his Pedigree and barely made it over to Michaels for the pin, Benoit came flying out of nowhere to break it up and keep him alive.
Moments later, Michaels found the strength to try one more Sweet Chin Music, headed for Benoit. As he went in for the kick, Benoit put him over the top rope and threw him out of the ring. Triple H then got up and had Benoit in position for the Pedigree.
That's when Benoit reversed it into his signature "Crippler Crossface" submission. The next thing you know, the champion tapped out, and Madison Square Garden went into a frenzy.
After an 18-year career, Chris Benoit was finally world champion. He began to cry in the middle of the ring, and just like referee Earl Hebner did for Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 12, he handed Benoit the World Heavyweight Championship.
"Finally, FINALLY! Chris Benoit has achieved his dream! He is finally the Heavyweight Champion of the World!" was what play-by-play commentator Jim Ross was screaming in his headset as his voice began to fade.
Benoit would go to the ropes to hold up his new title in his hand. When he came down, his best friend Eddie Guerrero was waiting for him in the ring, clapping and crying at his buddy's achievement. The two gave each other one long embrace as confetti began to come down inside Madison Square Garden (as you see above at the top of the post).
The closing image of WrestleMania 20 would be the two best of friends, holding their respective world titles and looking out into the crowd as the picture-perfect fairy tale ending was complete.
Final thoughts
I'd be lying if I said I didn't shed a tear as I typed up Benoit's crowning moment, as well as beginning my final thoughts of WrestleMania 20.
Yes, it was a perfect ending to WrestleMania 20. I'll take it a step further and say this probably is one of the best finishes to a WrestleMania in history. You could not have scripted this any better.
Within the next three years, both men would be dead.
Eddie Guerrero passed away in 2005 after heart failure due to his history of dealing with drugs and painkillers.
As for Chris Benoit, in 2007, he would murder his wife Nancy, his son Chris in their Atlanta home before committing suicide after the horrific crimes that he did.
I can't even put into words to describe my thoughts of Benoit after hearing what he did. There was a mix of sadness yet anger and disgust. He's a monster. He's a murderer.
Then you have this closing moment at WrestleMania in which it felt as if time stood still. Everything about it was terrific.
Guerrero was one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. You can imagine how crushed I felt as an 11-year-old, thinking my friends were kidding when I got to school that cold November morning upon hearing the news. I remember seeing Benoit cry on Raw's episode that night, realizing he lost his best friend.
On the flip side, you had Benoit, who, yes, was an incredible athlete. He excelled in every match he was in, and my goodness was it a privilege to watch him perform.
Because of Benoit's actions, unless you have the WWE Network or this WrestleMania on DVD, you will never hear WWE mention this moment again, and rightfully so. With lists of Royal Rumble winners, best WrestleMania moments, and World Champions, Benoit is gone from all of them.
It's a damn shame to know what he did and cost innocent lives on top of it. The ending to WrestleMania 20 means nothing and never will again.
The legacy of WrestleMania 20 will forever be tainted thanks to Benoit. A travesty because this was a solid WrestleMania.
But of course, this is only 2004. Benoit would begin his title reign, and Guerrero would continue his. The two went down their separate paths on their brands, and the WWE would carry on.
For now, to go with the timeline, the following year would have a tough time to top the conclusion of WrestleMania 20. A themed WrestleMania was on the horizon for 2005, and everybody would be ready for their close up.
Results:
- John Cena def. Big Show (c) - WWE United States Championship
- Booker T and Rob Van Dam (c) def. The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von), Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak, and La Resistance (Rene Dupree and Rob Conway) - Fatal four-way match for the World Tag Team Championship
- Christian def. Chris Jericho
- Evolution (Batista, Randy Orton, and Ric Flair) def. Rock 'n' Sock Connection (The Rock and Mick Foley)
- Torrie Wilson and Sable def. Stacy Keibler and Miss Jackie - Playboy Evening Gown match
- Chavo Guerrero (c) def. Aiko, Billy Kidman, Funaki, Jamie Noble, Nunzio, Rey Mysterio, Shannon Moore, Tajiri, and Ultimo Dragon - Cruiserweight Open for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship
- Goldberg def. Brock Lesnar (with Stone Cold Steve Austin as Special Guest Referee)
- Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty (c) def. APA (Bradshaw and Farooq), The Basham Brothers (Danny and Doug), and The World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) - Fatal 4-way for the WWE Tag Team Championship
- Victoria (c) def. Molly Holly - Hair vs. Title match for the WWE Women's Championship
- Eddie Guerrero (c) def. Kurt Angle - WWE Championship
- The Undertaker def. Kane
- Chris Benoit def. Triple H (c) and Shawn Michaels (via submission) - Triple threat for the World Heavyweight Championship
Rating: A-
Thanks for reading. Look out tomorrow when I take a look at WrestleMania 21.
15 days away until WrestleMania 35.
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