World Wrestling Entertainment – Backlash 2004 – 18th April 2004
If you found WrestleMania 20 tough to watch for Benoit-related reasons, then I suspect you may want to skip right over this one. Raw comes to his hometown, on the day that town dubbed ‘Chris Benoit Day’, to present their first brand-exclusive pay-per-view of 2004. However, with a rematch of the epic WrestleMania World Title main event, Randy Orton taking on hardcore legend Mick Foley in a Hardcore Match, plus Chris Jericho chasing revenge on the devious Christian and Trish Stratus this has the makings of not only one of the best single brand pay-per-views ever, but one of the best ‘Backlash’ events of all time. There’s also the ppv return of Edge, Victoria against Lita in a potentially decent Women’s Title Match and an in-form Ric Flair squaring off with rising star Shelton Benjamin. There’s no getting away from the very dark cloud that hangs over this event, and there’s no way to pretend that the main event will be an easy watch. Stick with this review if you’re interested, or skip it and move on to something different. I can’t that say I blame you if you do just that. We’re in Edmonton, ALB. Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler provide commentary.
Shelton Benjamin vs Ric Flair
In the aftermath of WrestleMania Shelton was split from WGTT partner Charlie Haas and drafted to Raw. He was clearly seen as the breakout player in that duo with dazzling speed and agility to go with his crowd-pleasing moveset. Here he finds himself trying to rise to the challenge of one of the finest professional wrestlers of all time. Ric Flair has looked in great shape and has produced a couple of really strong in-ring performances at 2004 pay-per-view events thus far. Can Benjamin make a splash by beating the 16-time former World Champion tonight?
Benjamin has no time for Flair’s pageantry, grabbing a leg and quickly taking him down to the mat as he struts around and crows. HE SLAPS FLAIR IN THE FACE! Ric dodges a Stinger Splash but Shelton is so insanely athletic at this point that he springs and lands on his freaking feet on the top rope. Flair takes that crazy back drop on the floor bump for the third ppv in a row…but is eventually roundly applauded as he pokes the enthusiastic rookie in the eyes. Figure 4 countered at this stage, although Ric clips Benjamin’s knee on the way out of that sequence signalling his intent to start seriously working over the left leg. Even when delivering his trademark chops in the corner he now makes sure he has the injured leg hung up in the ropes to stretch it out. Figure 4 Leglock locked in but when Shelton refuses to tap Flair starts grabbing the ropes – forcing the ref to break it. The frustrated Nature Boy tries to bring a chair in…and gets clocked in the head with an enziguri. Dragon Whip scores but is visibly lacking in its usual snap thanks to the work Flair has done on the leg. Stinger Splash blocks Flair’s attempt to use brass knucks and Shelton grabs the win with a flying clothesline at 09:28
Rating - *** - A generous/low-end 3* rating for sure, but I thought there was plenty to enjoy about this one. Benjamin was an extremely exciting talent at this point in time – perhaps lacking in a little charisma and connection to the audience, but brimming with insane athleticism and capable of doing these amazing spots that most other guys on the roster simply couldn’t dream of. He made a natural foil to the dogged, old-school approach of Flair here and I thought the nine minutes of this one absolutely sailed by. Flair has been working damn hard on pay-per-views thus far in ’04 and it continued here. Although he largely stuck to his usual routine he still did plenty of neat little things which I greatly admired, particularly when targeting Shelton’s leg (which I thought the rookie could have sold far better). The finish was a little weak but most of what went before was really solid.
Todd Grisham wants to know if Flair’s loss is a bad omen to Randy Orton later tonight. The Legend Killer has plans to permanently retire Foley tonight…
Jonathan Coachman vs Tajiri
So these two were feuding. Even after a video package relays the crucial bullet points of their disagreement I couldn’t actually tell you why, or indeed why anyone thought this would be a good idea or entertaining in anyway. Coach is lovably nerdy as the villainous broadcaster type I suppose…
Coach breaks out some solid basics, and for once Jerry Lawler actually has me laughing in how he puts that over. Tajiri throws a kick at him only to rattle his boot and shin against the ringpost. More solid fundamentals from JC as he works the leg – culminating in a shinbreaker/knee bar combo. Tajiri hammers Coach with stiff kicks using his free, healthy leg and is finally able to free himself. A crunching tree of woe dropkick to the back of the head gets 2 for the Buzzsaw. Garrison Cade runs in and apparently has such a hard punch that Tajiri is knocked out. Coach wins at 06:25
Rating - * - I seem to recall the Cade/Jindrak team, which had barely even begun to build momentum, was already split by this point and Cade was getting limited exposure as a singles guy on Raw. I can’t pretend I didn’t enjoy aspects of Coach working a body part, but this dragged far too long and really didn’t do anything to help anyone of the participants. If anyone could tell me how Cade or Tajiri benefited from this in any way (other than a ppv paycheck and not being stuck on Heat) I’d be interested in hearing from them.
EARLIER TONIGHT – Triple H arrives. That’s it. Given that JR gets cut off mid-sentence I’m presuming we have some Benoit-related editing here.
Christian/Trish Stratus vs Chris Jericho
At WrestleMania Jericho was betrayed by the woman he thought he loved. Fighting to defend the honour of Trish Stratus from his former tag partner Christian, he was shocked when Trish cost him the match, slapped him in the face, then left with his arch rival. Explaining her decision by saying she wanted a ‘real man’ (i.e. someone who pulls her hair and knocks her about apparently), she and Christian lorded it over Y2J – and now look to rub salt in his WrestleMania wounds with this rematch tonight. The plan is for Christian to do the work, then let Trish put the final nail in Jericho’s coffin.
Just like Mania, this starts with Jericho absolutely pasting Christian with a crunching right hook. Trish retreats to the apron as the entire arena calls her a slut. The springboard dropkick knocks Captain Charisma off the apron…but Trish comes to Christian’s aid by whacking Jericho in the back of the head. She takes a nasty bump to the floor as a result but it leaves Jericho vulnerable and allows Christian to shoulder tackle him from the apron to the guardrail. Stratus tags in and socks Jericho with the Chick Kick. There appear to be huge edits to the match here, to the extent that it looks like a clip show. Trish goes from kicking Jericho to tagging, then Christian appears working a chinlock all within a few seconds. The disorientating action continues as Christian blocks the Walls Of Jericho but gets an inadvertent headbutt to the balls instead. Sleeper slam gets 2 for Y2J, then the reverse DDT is countered to a northern lights suplex. Stratus once again nails Chris with a slap, knocking him backwards into a HANGING inverted DDT. Jericho grabs Trish for a spanking, and gets a deafening ovation from the crowd for it. Unprettier nailed…and as promised Trish gets to pin, but the delay gives Jericho a chance to kick out. LARIAT ON TRISH! Christian then piles into Y2J leaving all three of them on the ground. HEAD DROP FACEBUSTER by Jericho! Lionsault blocked into the Christian Cloverleaf! COUNTERED to the Walls Of Jericho ON TRISH! Jericho then splatters Trish in the corner by catapulting Christian at her, before grabbing the win at 10:53 (we lost around twenty seconds of the match through WWE Network edits if you’re interested).
Rating - *** - More gimmicky and disjointed than WrestleMania, but that was to be expected. The highpoint of the rivalry from an artistic standpoint was that super undercard contest in MSG. Tonight was about giving the angle the crowd-pleasing conclusion they needed, and on that front they more than delivered. Christian and Trish excelled at being dicks, and Jericho got to look strong and noble in his pursuit of the revenge he craved. This one felt a little slow in patches but got genuinely hot in the closing stages as the three talented performers shifted momentum between them all repeatedly. If you’d followed the angle from its beginning in 2003 then you’ll enjoy the finale.
Eugene (urgh) is wandering around backstage reading the WWE Magazine Divas Special…and accidentally ends up in the women’s locker room. Gail Kim and Molly Holly are terrified, and equally unhappy when Eugene’s babysitter William Regal bumbles in like Hugh Grant.
Victoria vs Lita – WWE Women’s Title Match
I think both women were babyfaces at this point, so this may not be as heated as it would have been once everyone turned on Lita for the Matt Hardy thing. Both are among the stronger workers on the diva roster, albeit Lita is pretty sloppy and looked even less in control of her own body after her catastrophic neck injury. There’s a reason she’s been back for a while but only very sparingly been booked into ppv matches.
Victoria uses her strength and size to dominate the first minute. They then engage in a fierce lock-up which leads to them both toppling through the ropes and landing on their heads on the floor. It may not be perfect but they are clearly working hard, and I feel bad for them that their reward is the crowd chanting ‘we want puppies’ and Lawler talking about Lita’s thong. Standing moonsault gets Victoria a 2, although I’m having some streaming issues with this one. Mexican surfboard by the champ, which Lita escapes to hit a surprisingly crisp satellite headscissors. She repeats the spot seconds later for no reason, but at least stays on the neck afterwards by working a sleeper. The crowd don’t care about this at all, and things get worse as Lita botches getting out of the way of Victoria’s moonsault – and takes it in the back as she was in the middle of rolling away. Victoria wins with a roll-up at 07:06 (shown).
Rating - * - It is a shame this didn’t work out because I’d much rather see the WWE present their women’s division in this manner – i.e. competitive matches between talented female performers. However, this got sloppy, messy and even their athleticism couldn’t save them. The botched moonsault looked lousy, as usual Lita had general execution problems and the finish felt extremely flat.
Molly Holly (in a wig) and Gail Kim run in and attack both women to vent their frustration at not being in the Women’s Title picture.
Randy Orton vs Cactus Jack – WWE Intercontinental Title Hardcore Match
Annoyingly, even in Cactus Jack attire Foley still comes out to his usual entrance music rather than the awesome theme he used in this persona previously. This is the culmination of a feud between these two men which has lasted almost a year. Orton, dubbing himself the ‘Legend Killer’, having attacked Mick Foley in the fabled halls of Madison Square Garden in an attempt to make a name for himself at the expense of the hardcore legend. After that and several other beatdowns from Orton and Evolution, Foley started doubt whether he could find the fire and passion he once had as a professional wrestler. He walked out of a match with Orton on television and felt he let himself and fans down with a solid, albeit underwhelming, performance at WrestleMania 20. Orton wanted a match with the apparently-past it former WWF Champion to cement his legacy, and agreed to put his title on the line in a no rules environment such as this – with Evolution banned from ringside. Now the unscheduled appearance of the Cactus Jack persona means Orton needs to walk the same path his mentor, Triple H, did four years ago. Can he survive the most dangerous, most violent and most hardcore of the Three Faces of Foley?
Orton brings a barbed wire 2x4 to the ring with him along with a garbage can full of weapons, but is so un-hardcore that he appears to have broken his weapon before Cactus even makes it into the ring wielding his own ‘barbie’. Jack chases the champion all over ringside with his barbed wire bat, sending cameramen sprawling in his desperation to get to him. Randy swings a trash can into Foley’s face but, just as HHH found out at Royal Rumble 2000, it has minimal effect and Cactus is soon pursuing him again. He delivers the swinging neckbreaker on the floor, but his opponent flees before he can deliver the Cactus Elbow. BACK SUPLEX ON THE ENTRANCE RAMP by Randy! Since it’s Hardcore rules falls count anywhere and Orton starts frantically trying to pin him right there on the stage. Mick pulls out Mr Socko…but tosses it aside in favour of ‘barbie’! BARBED WIRE BAT TO THE FACE! Instantly Orton has blood pouring down his face, and it’s quickly made worse with a running barbed wire bat drop to the head. He dropped so much weight for this feud that watching Cactus here is genuinely like watching him during his ECW or WCW days – belying his advancing years to move around with as much mobility as he ever has. BARBED WIRE LEG DROP TO THE TESTICLES! Reaching under the ring, Jack pulls out a can of petrol and douses his barbed wire bat in it. Eric Bischoff scrambles onto the stage and orders him not to light it because the Fire Marshall will shut the show down. Reluctantly Cactus agrees and wallops the champ with a baking tray instead. Just when things take a turn for the Crash Holly, Mick goes back under the ring and pulls out a BARBED WIRE BOARD! Orton fears for his life, and tosses powder into his eyes. BODY SLAM ON THE BARBED WIRE! Next Randy positions the wire board in the corner, as Lawler points out all the lacerations on Mick’s body. IMPACT EXPLOSION DROPKICK INTO THE BARBED WIRE! Foley’s arm is completely shredded! Orton looks like a maniac as he defies heavy blood loss and smiles broadly whilst covering the canvas in thumbtacks. RKO INTO THE TACKS…BLOCKED! ORTON IS COVERED IN TACKS! THAT’S INSANE! Randy is wrestling in trunks and is punctured from head to toe. He tries to run for his life…AND GETS TOSSED OFF THE STAGE, THROUGH A TABLE! Paramedics rush to check on him as referees try to restrain the rampaging challenger. Jack knocks them aside…and hits a CACTUS ELBOW OFF THE F*CKING STAGE! ORTON KICKS OUT! We go back to the bloody, tack covered ring where Cactus hits the Double Arm DDT for 2. Somehow Randy grabs the barbed wire bat and whacks Jack with it, splitting his head open too. More shades of Royal Rumble 2000 as he nails Mick in the stomach and back with it just as HHH did four years earlier. MANDIBLE CLAW LOCKED IN! COUNTERED TO THE RKO! JACK KICKS AT 2! RKO ON THE BARBED WIRE BAT! Orton retains in a phenomenal 23:03!
Rating - ****1/2 - Another 2004 ppv, another 2004 MOTYC. Just as he did with Triple H in early 2000, Mick Foley just made Randy Orton an absolute star with a single epic match. There were so many parallels between this and the Street Fight he’d contested with HHH years earlier, and since that remains one of the finest WWE Championship matches ever, drawing inspiration from it certainly wasn’t a bad thing. Orton had already proved he was serviceable in the ring after the great match he’d had with Shawn Michaels the previous year. His promos were improving, and he’d been given the seal of approval by the likes of HHH and Flair with his mere presence in Evolution. The one thing he needed before moving on to the main event scene was for fans to accept him as tough. Enter Foley, who was in incredible shape and selflessly produced one of the performances of his career to MAKE Orton here tonight. Just like HHH did in 2000, Orton had to survive everything the ‘King Of The Death Matches’ could throw at him. He had to bleed, he had to take bumps, he had to be shredded by the barbed wire…and we went so far above and beyond with that incredible bump into the tacks. Even Hunter wasn’t crazy enough to do that! It was a stunning visual as the young prodigy, wrestling in his red trunks, writhed around on the canvas legitimately coated in tacks like breadcrumbs on a chicken nugget. With a little help from a selfless veteran, Orton grabbed his brass ring tonight. He’d had a solid career up to this point, but this was the match that took him from solid prospect to bona fide main event talent – where he still remains as of this writing in 2015.
Ric Flair and Batista rush out to carry Orton away. Batista looks absolutely stunned by the violence he’s just witnessed. Even Triple H is waiting backstage to congratulate him. Hunter then tells Todd Grisham he plans to piss off everyone in the arena by beating Chris Benoit tonight.
La Resistance vs The Hurricane/Rosey
This is the Conway/Grenier version of La Res. Supposedly this is the happier, more fluent version of the group – since behind the scenes neither of them liked Rene Dupree and were thrilled when he got drafted to Smackdown. Their opponents are Hurricane and his ‘Super Hero In Training’, the surprisingly entertaining comedy duo who were over as hell but were never actually used properly at any point.
JR utters the phrase of death for a ppv match – ‘this match came about earlier on Heat’. There are empty seats and fans heading for the concessions stands and exits no matter which camera they try to switch to. In fact, there are so many vacant seats on the side of the ring opposing the hard cam that they basically can’t use that shot for the duration of the match. Hurricane hits a Lita-esque (i.e. sloppy) headscissors on Conway, then gets hiptossed into a somersault senton by Rosey. Rob hits a slingshot swinging neckbreaker after a distraction from Grenier, although even the commentators have no desire to discuss the action and carry right on with their conversation about Orton and Foley. Eugene stumbles down the aisle as Rosey goes all 3-Minute Warning on both members of La Res. TOP ROPE FLYING SUPERHERO DIVE TO THE FLOOR BY HURRICANE! Meanwhile Eugene is in the ring running around just for fun. Eye Of The Hurricane finishes Conway at 05:00
Rating - * - The popcorniest of popcorn matches you’re ever likely to see. I felt bad for the wrestlers because they were all visibly working hard. It would be understandable if they phoned it in given the spot they’ve got, but everyone went balls to the wall trying to provoke any kind of reaction from the recovering crowd. I actually felt quite sorry for them as they had to play second fiddle to the idiotic Eugene antics too.
Kane vs Edge
Having been one of the focal points of Raw for almost a year, Kane started to drift after staring at the lights for the return of the Undertaker last month. As one career started to plateau, Edge returned to the WWE, was drafted to Raw and was finally able to resume his. Having spent endless months out with a neck injury the 2001 King Of The Ring was determined to make up for lost time. He dished out a Spear to the Raw GM, and defied an unspecified hand injury to pick a fight with the biggest dog on the Monday night roster. Can he return to pay-per-view with a definitive victory over Kane?
Edge is obviously pumped for his return to ppv but quickly loses his vigour as a minute of punches gets him absolutely nowhere except splattered into the mat by the Big Red Machine. Kane shows some intelligence too as he leaves the ring to avoid the Spear…then smashes the injured hand into the steps. Watching Kane work wristlocks and arm wrenches is a rather weird sight and it clearly isn’t something the locals are too comfortable with either – since all they are doing is hurling pro-Bret Hart abuse at Earl Hebner. Kane throws a kick to the damaged arm as Edge threatens to use his cast as a weapon, and scales the ropes to miss the diving clothesline. Edgecution nailed…then he nails Kane with the cast as Hebner is accidentally knocked out of the ring. Edge wins at 06:24
Rating - ** - The crowd rather turned on this match but I didn’t actually think it was that bad. Although it was weird seeing Kane work a body part, it did make sense and Edge sold it in a totally believable manner. I liked seeing hints of the wonderful villain Edge would go on to become with that finish too. This period in Edge’s career was rather awkward as WWE realised he was a future star but struggled to re-establish the organic connection he’d had with the fans during the Smackdown Six era. It would take another year, plus Lita and Matt Hardy, to truly get him moving again.
Chris Benoit vs Triple H vs Shawn Michaels – World Heavyweight Title Match
Some called their first encounter the greatest WrestleMania main event of all time. These three men battled for almost 25 minutes in a colossal struggle over the World Title, which culminated in Benoit tapping out the champ and finally shattering the glass ceiling on the biggest stage he’d ever been on. After some post-Mania posturing, Eric Bischoff finally pulled the trigger on the rematch and - as HHH points out in the pre-match video – they all have something to prove. Under immense pressure on ‘Chris Benoit Day’ in his hometown, can the Crippler prove his WrestleMania victory wasn’t a fluke? Can Shawn Michaels prove he is still the greatest wrestler of all time by returning to the top of the Raw mountain? Or can Triple H prove that he is still the dominant force and the man to beat on Monday nights?
We’re in Canada so Michaels is extremely unpopular of course. I have to be honest and say I came perilously close to turning this off as the camera switches to shots of Nancy and Daniel Benoit cheering Chris during his entrance. Benoit is the first to get the fight started, and gets plenty of applause when he shuns HBK’s help to take on Triple H. Michaels gets some payback by grabbing the surgically repaired neck for a swinging neckbreaker. Just when Michaels and Helmsley threaten to box him out of proceedings, Benoit breaks out the first German suplexes of the match and sends them both flying. Crossface attempted on HHH, who is desperate to escape after what happened at Mania. Michaels breaks it up and is punished for it as Benoit goes after his lower back by ramming it into the railings. He looks for a superplex on HHH but takes a nasty spill to the floor removing him from the match for the time being. He explodes back in a couple of minutes later with the Flying Wolverine on HBK for 2. Referee Mike Chioda gets knocked out, as inside the ring the champion gets a massive pop for putting Hunter in the Sharpshooter. Just like at Mania Michaels tries to break it…but this time Benoit is ready and puts him in the Crossface! AWESOME familiarity counter! Shawn escapes and is nearly boo’d out of Canada as he puts Benoit in the Sharpshooter. And the replacement referee is Earl Hebner of course! The entire building is on Shawn now…and go crazy as Benoit puts him back in the Crossface. Triple H finally returns and breaks that up so we can all grab our breath. ‘They’ve seen Benoit choke before’ – Lawler breaking out the most unfortunate line of the night. Michaels heads to the top, takes to the air and DIVES STRAIGHT THROUGH THE SPANISH ANNOUNCE TABLE as both Benoit and HHH dive for cover! The Game takes control after that and drills Benoit’s shoulder into the ringpost multiple times. That shoulder gets wrenched further, along with the bum neck, as Helmsley sits down into an old-fashioned camel clutch. More unfortunate-with-hindsight moments as JR suggests that Lawler should have a ‘heart attack’ at the announce table! ROLLING GERMANS BY BENOIT! But Hunter moves as he goes for the diving headbutt to leave them both on the ground. PEDIGREE! MICHAELS BREAKS THE PIN! Old rivalries are renewed as HBK slaps HHH in the face then tees off on him with right hands. The Macho Elbow scores, but Shawn is still so injured after going through a table that he struggles to capitalise. BACK-SELLING SWEET CHIN MUSIC ON BENOIT! Triple H has pulled out his signature weapon…SLEDGEHAMMER TO SHAWN’S BAD BACK! He then tries to give Benoit a Pedigree on the steel steps too. Sadly for him Benoit counters with such a ferocious catapult to the ringpost that HHH rebounds all the way into the front row. Back in the ring Michaels can barely stand, and has his Sweet Chin Music COUNTERED TO THE SHARPSHOOTER! A busted-open HHH crawls back towards the ring, but isn’t in time to stop Michaels tapping out at 30:09.
Rating - **** - There are plenty out there who prefer this to the original, but I’m not one of them. This is still a hell of a match, but I thought they didn’t have enough material to fill an extra six minutes, and I found myself increasingly frustrated at how much they pandered to the annoying ‘you screwed Bret’ fans rather than just working the match. Despite being in Benoit’s hometown Shawn was the undeniable star of the show here. His performance was just astonishingly good. Obviously this isn’t anywhere near the top of his list of all-time great showings, but I thought he was quite incredible from start to finish. He is always in a tough position when he works in Canada, but the way he rose to the challenge of playing the heel to a live audience - without jeopardising his babyface character or alienating the rest of the viewing audience around the world - was amazing. That table spot was nuts, and his work selling the back after that (which played all the way through to the finish) was terrific too. Seeing him get his comeuppance for Montreal ’97 was probably a deliciously cathartic moment for a lot of the fans in attendance too. I also felt that the drama of WrestleMania wasn’t quite replicated here. Although the work was consistently good (and at times great) I never felt the urgency, the unpredictability of the sheer, unmitigated tension of Benoit’s title win. Unlike that night the result never seemed in any real doubt. Still, a hell of a sequel and an outstanding ppv main event.
Tape Rating - *** - This was a slightly strange pay-per-view to sit through. There was some pretty bad stuff to sit through, but everything that the promotion actually cared about was really good. Benjamin/Flair was an energetic opener, the culmination of the Trish/Jericho/Christian and Orton/Foley angles both delivered in spades and the main event was a kick-ass rematch from WrestleMania. Indeed, even in a decent year for ppv MOTYC’s I’m not sure there’s been a better match than the hardcore bloodbath between Randy Orton and Cactus Jack thus far in 2004. Once again the Benoit-centric main event makes for tough, conflicting viewing…but just like WrestleMania I think there’s enough on an inconsistent undercard below him to justify a solid recommendation for this show.
Top 3 Matches
3) Chris Jericho vs Christian/Trish Stratus (***)
2) Chris Benoit vs Triple H vs Shawn Michaels (****)
1) Randy Orton vs Cactus Jack (****1/2)