10 Fascinating WWE Royal Rumble 2004 Facts
Two men have won the Royal Rumble from the number one position, and the other did so here.
The 2004 Royal Rumble became "the forbidden show" in the wake of the Benoit family murder-suicide in 2007. When WWE made the decision to erase all overt uses of Benoit's name and likeness from their media properties, they took a chunk out of the Royal Rumble's lineage (not that kayfabe machinations should ever take precedent over horrifying tragedy, anyhow). The 2004 Royal Rumble may as well have never happened, for all that it means today.
For fans of Benoit's who hadn't a clue how his story would end, that '04 Rumble was pro wrestling Shangri-La, as the hardest working underdog that they'd ever known was greenlighted for a monumental victory. That Shangri-La would become a working class factory town compared to the Nirvana of WrestleMania 20, when Benoit joined brother-in-arms Eddie Guerrero in standing tall as the industry's top champions.
For many, the image of Benoit's joy on either night is tainted, forever marred by the sickening circumstances of how he exited this world. Others are still able to go back and enjoy the moment in a vacuum, remembering how the yet-to-be-tarnished image of Chris Benoit's professional triumph made them feel on that night, fourteen years ago.
Here are ten facts about the 2004 Royal Rumble you may not have known.
10. Brock Lesnar Didn't Want To Work With Bob Holly
Brock Lesnar's decision to leave WWE in 2004 wasn't sudden. For some time, he'd felt misled and manipulated by the company. He was also tired of the constant travel, and had begun indulging in heavy amounts of vodka and pain pills to dull his many intense aches.
Lesnar was also unsatisfied creatively. As WWE Champion, he took on Bob Holly at the 2004 Rumble, playing off of a legitimate injury to Holly's neck that Lesnar had inadvertently given him in the fall of 2002. Holly had been a midcard wrestler throughout his decade with the company, and the match didn't come off as Rumble-caliber.
Holly even admitted as much, noting that even though he and Lesnar got along, Lesnar didn't find the match to be worth his time. Holly adds that WWE did little to build up the return from injury, and didn't do enough to position him as a threat to Lesnar's championship. Thus, nobody involved was satisfied with the situation.