50 Things You Learn Binge-Watching Every WWE Royal Rumble
22. 2004 Marked A WWE Philosophy Change
Again, each individual fan has their own thoughts on how easy it is to sit down and check out some of Chris Benoit's best WWE moments. It's hard to skip 2004 when doing a Royal Rumble revisit though, if only because it was such an important moment in company history and a real sign that the McMahon family were willing to bend on their 'big bodies first' philosophy.
They did still find time for Big Show to showcase his ridiculously huge physique by working a fun twist on the age old Andre spot, naturally. Once that was out of the way, Benoit went on to win, and his victory was a massive show of faith from Vince. It marked a sea change in how technical excellence trumped size at the top of WWE cards, which few thought could ever happen for any reasonable length of time.
Here was a guy who’d been called “too small” to be a WWF/WWE focal point for years, and now he was going an hour from the #1 spot to top Shawn Michaels in 1995 by winning the Rumble. McMahon's thoughts on Benoit would cool significantly after he won the World Title at ‘Mania XX, but there were zero hesitations during that fearless January-March sprint in '04.
The 'Iron Man' gimmick created by Ted DiBiase many moons before in 1990 never meant more than it did for Benoit 14 years on. The Canadian went over one full hour and stayed the course to perform the most epic coast to coast in Rumble lore to that point.