The 2004 SummerSlam was the 17th annual SummerSlam

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

(PPV)

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

produced by

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

(WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

and

SmackDown! ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes simulc ...

brand divisions. The event took place on August 15, 2004, at the

Air Canada Centre Scotiabank Arena ( French: ''Aréna Scotiabank)'', formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in the South Core district of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Rap ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Nine matches were contested at the event, including one on the ''

Sunday Night Heat ''WWE Heat'' (formerly known as ''Sunday Night Heat'' and also known as ''Heat'') is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and aired from August 2, 1998 to May 30, 2008. Ori ...

'' pre-show. The main match on the Raw brand was

Chris Benoit Christopher Michael Benoit (; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career including most notably the WWE, World Wrestlin ...

versus

Randy Orton Randal Keith Orton (born April 1, 1980) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actor who is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw brand but is currently out of action due to a back injury. H ...

for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Orton won by pinfall after performing an

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

. The predominant match on the SmackDown! brand was

John "Bradshaw" Layfield John Charles Layfield (born November 29, 1966), better known by the ring name John "Bradshaw" Layfield (abbreviated to JBL), is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and Gridiron football, football player. He is curre ...

(JBL) versus

The Undertaker Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by the ring name The Undertaker, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Calaway spent the vast majority ...

for the

WWE Championship The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, representing the Raw brand division. It is one of two world titles on WWE's main roster, alongside SmackDown' ...

, which JBL won after Undertaker was disqualified. The featured matches on the

undercard In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

included Kurt Angle versus

Eddie Guerrero Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes (October 9, 1967 – November 13, 2005) was an American professional wrestler. He was a prominent member of the Guerrero wrestling family, being the son of first-generation wrestler Gory Guerrero. Eddie Guerrero is ...

and

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27, 1969), better known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive, actor, and retired professional wrestler currently serving as the chief content officer for WWE. He is widely regarded as on ...

versus

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

Production

Background

SummerSlam is an annual

(PPV), produced every summer by

(WWE) since 1988. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer," it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". It has since become considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. The 2004 event was the 17th event in the SummerSlam chronology and featured wrestlers from the

and

brands A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

. It was scheduled to be held on August 15, 2004, at the

, Ontario,

Storylines

The main

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one part ...

heading into SummerSlam on the

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

was between

and

, with the two feuding over the World Heavyweight Championship. At

Vengeance Vengeance may refer to: *Vengeance (concept) or revenge, a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance Film * ''Vengeance'' (1930 film), action adventure film directed by Archie Mayo * ''Vengeance'' (1937 film) or ''W ...

, Benoit defeated

to retain the title. On the July 26 episode of ''Raw'', Orton won a 20-man battle royal, last eliminating Chris Jericho, to become the number one contender to the title at SummerSlam. Also that night, Benoit defeated Triple H in a 60-minute Iron Man match to retain the title with the help of

. On the August 2 episode of ''Raw'',

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

(Orton,

Batista Batista is a Spanish language, Spanish or Portuguese language, Portuguese surname. Notable persons with the name include: * Batista (footballer, born 1955), Brazilian football player * Dave Bautista, American actor and professional wrestler, also ...

, and

Ric Flair Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler. Regarded by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair has had a career spanni ...

) defeated Benoit, Edge, and Jericho in a six man tag team match when Orton pinned Benoit following an

. On the August 9 episode of ''Raw'', Benoit defeated Orton and Triple H in a Handicap match by disqualification. Undertaker Milwaukee WI 031008

The primary feud on the

brand was between

(JBL) and

, over the

. JBL had won the title two months prior at

The Great American Bash The Great American Bash is a professional wrestling event currently produced by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. Created by Dusty Rhodes, the event was established in 1985 and was originally produced by the National Wr ...

by defeating then-champion

in a

Texas Bullrope match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

. On the July 22 episode of ''SmackDown!'', JBL defeated a jobber to retain the title. After the match, Undertaker came out and challenged JBL to a match at SummerSlam. On the August 5 episode of ''SmackDown!'', as JBL called out Undertaker, a midget wrestler came out and began to imitate the real Undertaker. The real Undertaker came out shortly afterwards and attacked JBL, until Orlando Jordan came out to help him. On the August 12 episode of ''SmackDown!'', Undertaker defeated Jordan by disqualification after JBL interfered and executed a

Clothesline from Hell Strikes are offensive moves in professional wrestling, that can sometimes be used to set up an opponent for a hold or for a throw. There are a wide variety of strikes in pro wrestling, and many are known by several different names. Professional wre ...

on Undertaker. The secondary feud on the SmackDown! brand was between Kurt Angle and

. The feud first started at

WrestleMania XX WrestleMania XX was the 20th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It featured professional wrestlers from both of the promotion's two brands divisions – Raw and ...

, when Guerrero defeated Angle to successfully retain the WWE Championship. Guerrero lost the title to John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) at The Great American Bash, when Angle, then- SmackDown! General Manager, screwed Guerrero and declared JBL the winner. On the July 15 episode of ''SmackDown!'', JBL defeated Guerrero in a Steel Cage match to retain the title. Towards the end of the match, El Gran Luchadore (portrayed by Angle) interfered, giving JBL enough time to escape the cage and win the match. After the match ended, Guerrero attacked El Gran Luchadore and pulled off his mask, revealing him to be Angle. On the July 22 episode of ''SmackDown!'',

Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon (; born August 24, 1945) is an American media proprietor and retired professional wrestling promoter, executive, and performer. From 1982 to 2022, he served as the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of WWE, the w ...

fired Angle as SmackDown! General Manager and scheduled a match between Angle and Guerrero for SummerSlam. The secondary feud on the Raw brand was between Triple H and

. The feud first started on the May 17 episode of ''Raw'', during an in-ring segment with The Rock, Eugene revealed that his favorite wrestler was in fact Triple H due to Eugene's adoration of "playing games". Capitalizing on this opportunity, Triple H began to befriend the star-struck and naive Eugene even making the young wrestler an honorary member of Triple H's stable Evolution. However, Triple H soon revealed that this was all a calculated ploy and that he planned to utilize Eugene to help him win back the World Heavyweight Championship from Chris Benoit. Yet, Triple H's plan failed miserably when during his title match with Benoit at

, Eugene inadvertently hit him with a steel chair costing him the match and the championship. On the July 12 episode of ''Raw'', Triple H attacked Eugene in the ring after falsely implying that he had forgiven him for what happened at Vengeance. On the July 26 episode of ''Raw'', Eugene would return to exact a degree of revenge by costing Triple H his re-match with Benoit. On the August 2 episode of ''Raw'', Triple H demanded a match between the two at SummerSlam, to which Raw General Manager

Eric Bischoff Eric Aaron Bischoff (born May 27, 1955) is an American television producer, professional wrestling booker, and performer. He is best known for serving as Executive Producer and later Senior Vice President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and ...

agreed.

Event

Preliminary matches

Before the event went live on pay-per-view, Rob Van Dam defeated

René Duprée René Emile Goguen (born December 15, 1983), better known by his ring name René Duprée (; ja, レネ・デュプリ, Rene Dyupuri) is a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah where he is a ...

in a match taped for ''

''. The first match was a six-man

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

match between The Dudleys ( Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley, and Spike Dudley) and the team of Rey Mysterio, Billy Kidman, and Paul London. Spike pinned Kidman after a 3D from Bubba Ray and D-Von to win the match for his team. The next match was between Kane and Matt Hardy in a "Till Death To Us Part" match. Hardy gained control over Kane after performing a Twist of Fate on Kane outside of the ring and attacking him with the ring bell. Kane then countered a suplex attempt by Hardy into a chokeslam from the top rope to win the match. As a result of the pre-match stipulation, Lita was forced to marry Kane, as part of their on-going storyline. The third match was between John Cena and

Booker T Booker T or Booker T. may refer to * Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), African American political leader at the turn of the 20th century ** List of things named after Booker T. Washington, some nicknamed "Booker T." * Booker T. Jones (born 1944) ...

in the first match of a "Best of 5 series" for the

WWE United States Championship The WWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling Professional wrestling championship#Location-specific championships, championship promoted by the United States, American professional wrestling promotion, promotion WWE, currently de ...

. Early in the match, Cena gained the advantage over Booker. In the end, Booker performed a scissors kick on Cena, who retaliated by performing an FU to win the match and go up 1-0 in the series. The following match was a Triple Threat match for the

WWE Intercontinental Championship The WWE Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, currently defended on the SmackDown brand division. It is one of two secondary championships for WWE's main roster ...

involving Edge,

and Chris Jericho. During the match, Edge and Jericho performed double-team maneuvers onto Batista. Edge performed a spear on Jericho to retain the title. The fifth match was between Kurt Angle and

. Angle gained control over Guerrero early on in the match. Mid-match, the referee was knocked out, and as a result, Guerrero took his boot off and used it to hit both Angle and Luther Reigns, who was at ringside with Angle and tried to get involved in the match. The match concluded when Angle was able to counter a

frog splash Aerial techniques, also known as "high-flying moves" are maneuvers in professional wrestling using the ring's posts and ropes as aids, in many cases to demonstrate the speed and agility of smaller, nimble and acrobatically inclined wrestlers prefer ...

and forced Guerrero to submit to the Ankle Lock. Orton2004-whc

The next match was between

and

. At the start of the match, Triple H pretended to attack the ring announcer,

Lilian Garcia Lilián Annette Garcia (born August 19, 1966) is a Spanish-American ring announcer, singer and podcaster best known for her time with WWE. She is currently announcing for the Professional Fighters League (PFL).Doyle, Dave"Former WWE ring announce ...

, as a distraction to attack Eugene. Eugene countered Triple H's attacks by executing a Rock Bottom. During the match,

attempted to interfere but he was ejected by the referee. As Flair was leaving from ringside,

William Regal Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is known for his over 20 years spent in WWE, as both a performer and an on-screen authority, and for his ti ...

hit Flair with a pair of brass knuckles. Triple H performed a Pedigree on Eugene to win the match.

Main event matches

The following match was for the

between

(JBL) and

. Immediately, JBL and Undertaker started the match outside of the ring. Mid-match, the referee was knocked out. Orlando Jordan passed JBL the title belt, which JBL used to hit Undertaker with. Undertaker was disqualified after the referee saw him hit JBL with the title belt, meaning JBL retained the title. Undertaker executed a chokeslam to JBL through the roof of JBL's limousine, leading to JBL being taken out of the arena on a stretcher. The

main event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

was between

and

for the World Heavyweight Championship. Orton attempted to apply a Sharpshooter on Benoit but Benoit applied a Sharpshooter on Orton. Later in the match, Benoit performed seven German suplexes on Orton but Orton blocked a diving headbutt. In the end, Benoit attempted to apply the Crippler Crossface but Orton countered into an RKO to win the title. Following the match whilst Orton was celebrating his victory, Benoit returned to the ring and offered Orton a handshake, telling him to "be a man", which Orton accepted.

Aftermath

On the August 16 episode of ''Raw'',

defeated

in a rematch to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. After the match,

(

, and

), threw Orton a mock celebration, only to reveal that they were not pleased with his new victory. While Batista had Orton propped on his shoulders, Triple H gave him a pleased

thumbs up A thumb signal, usually described as a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, is a common hand gesture achieved by a closed fist held with the thumb extended upward or downward in approval or disapproval, respectively. These gestures have become metaphors i ...

, but abruptly changed it to a thumbs-down. He then told Batista to

drop Drop, DROP, drops or DROPS may refer to: * Drop (liquid) or droplet, a small volume of liquid ** Eye drops, saline (sometimes mydriatic) drops used as medication for the eyes * Drop (unit), a unit of measure of volume * Falling (physics), allowi ...

Orton to the mat, and Flair and Batista attacked Orton as Triple H told him that he was nothing without Evolution, and decided that Orton was on his own. On the August 23 episode of ''Raw'', Triple H told Orton to give him the title or "pay the price". Orton refused, and then he spat in Triple H's face and hit him with the title belt

turning Turning is a machining process in which a cutting tool, typically a non-rotary tool bit, describes a helix toolpath by moving more or less linearly while the workpiece rotates. Usually the term "turning" is reserved for the generation of ...

Orton into a face. Raw General Manager

then scheduled a match between Orton and Triple H for the title at Unforgiven. At Unforgiven, Orton lost the title when he was pinned by Triple H. The feud between

(JBL) and

continued. The next few weeks on ''SmackDown!'', JBL wore a neck brace, to signify that he was recuperating from Undertaker's chokeslam. On the August 26 episode of ''SmackDown!'', Orlando Jordan defended the

for JBL against The Undertaker. Undertaker won the match via disqualification following interference from JBL; as a result, JBL retained the title. The following week on ''SmackDown!'', General Manager

Theodore Long Theodore Robert Rufus Long (born September 15, 1947) is an American former professional referee and manager known for his work for WWE and WCW serving as an on-screen authority figure. Long began his career in the National Wrestling Alliance and ...

scheduled a

Last Ride match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

at No Mercy between JBL and Undertaker. At No Mercy, JBL retained the title after interference by Heidenreich.

Results

References

External links

Official 2004 SummerSlam Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Summerslam 2004

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2004 in Toronto Professional wrestling in Toronto Events in Toronto 2004 WWE pay-per-view events August 2004 events in Canada WWE in Canada

Production

Background

Storylines

Event

Preliminary matches

Main event matches

Aftermath

Results

See also

References

External links