WWE Raw In 2004: 10 Best Moments

It's been said many times by countless wrestling fans across world, but it certainly bares repeating: the WWE Network is an absolute godsend.

Not only do you get every WWE, WCW and ECW pay-per-view ever, as well as original content and Network exclusives, but WWE have slowly but surely been adding entire years worth of WWE, WCW and ECW television, too. Fancy watching some 1997 Nitros? They're all there. In the mood for some Invasion era Smackdown? Just log in and take your pick.

A relatively recent addition was every episode of Raw up until 2006. That's right, as well as filling in the gaps of 2001/02, the Network now has the entirety of 2003, 04 and 05. As someone who was a keen viewer during this period, I've found myself going back and seeing just what the hell WWE were putting out back then.

A lot of it I remember vividly, some not so much. That was particularly the case with the 2004 episodes. Raw in 04 was, upon reflection, rather fantastic. It featured much less of the misogyny and cheap heat of 03, a lot less talking and nostalgia-baiting than 05 and focused on wrestling.

This was a year when Triple H, Chris Benoit and Shawn Michaels ruled, where Edge returned and Shelton Benjamin was given a serious shot at singles stardom. This was a year when Ric Flair turned back the clock and Batista broke out. This was Raw in 2004, and these were the 10 best moments.

The 2004 WWE draft was, by and large, quite the waste of time. Instead of 'shaking things up' and reinvigorating WWE, all it did was bolster the Raw ranks while depleting Smackdown. The majority of the draft picks themselves (such as Rene Dupree, Nidia, Spike Dudley and Mark Jindrak) were uninspiring.

One positive coming out the Draft, however, was that Shelton Benjamin was now a Raw superstar. The ultra-athletic University of Minnesota alum was going to have the opportunity to prove himself as a singles star. He'd dazzled for the previous year in tags with Charlie Haas, but it was obvious that he had untapped potential as a solo performer.

His first task on the red show was a main event match with Triple H. Throughout the course of the show he'd been attacked by Evolution, endorsed by Steve Austin and given a pep talk by World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit, so it was obvious that management had high hopes for him.

But would The Game 'make' Benjamin and put him over in their match? Recognising that it was the right thing to do and that Benjamin had enormous potential, Triple H did do the clean job for the Gold Standard after a hard-fought, 20-minute match. It was a great match and a great moment, setting Benjamin up for one of his best ever years in the company.