10 Fascinating WWE SummerSlam 2004 Facts

1. Randy Orton's Reign Was Never Meant To Last

Undertaker SummerSlam 2004
WWE.com

Orton's sudden babyface turn, spurred by an envious Triple H kicking him out of Evolution, was a bit of a flop. The cool, confident heel Orton that amassed a considerable fan following morphed into a predictable, glad-handing babyface in the grand WWE tradition of, "We suck at making babyfaces in the modern age." Orton's reign ended after four weeks, and the perception is that his poor performance as a good guy led to him dropping the strap.

In reality, WWE never intended for Orton to hold the belt past Unforgiven in September. They wanted to build the chase to WrestleMania 21, with Orton getting his revenge on Triple H and regaining the gold there (which clearly didn't happen).

The other part of the equation is that WWE needed a heel champion for Taboo Tuesday, so that fans could vote for which valiant babyface challenger they wanted to see unseat the conniving heel that held the gold. Triple H was obviously the man for the latter part of the formula.

Contributor
Contributor

Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.