IWE No Way Out (2004)
From Iwe
| No Way Out (2004) | ||
 Promotional poster featuring Brian McAlmond | ||
| Theme song(s) | "Crossing Borders" by [[Scott Wright | |
| Imformation | ||
| Promotion | International Wrestling Entertainment | |
| Date | February 15, 2004 | |
| Attendance | 11,000 | |
| Venue | Cow Palace | |
| City | Daly City, California | |
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||
| Royal Rumble (2004) | No Way Out (2004) | WrestleMania XX |
| No Way Out chronology | ||
| No Way Out (2003) | No Way Out (2004) | No Way Out (2005) |
No Way Out (2004)' was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by International Wrestling Entertainment (IWE), which took place on February 15, 2004 at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California. It was the sixth event produced under the No Way Out name and starred wrestlers from the SmackDown! brand.
During the main event, Brian McAlmond defeated IWE Champion Rob Lesnar to win the title. Two bouts were featured on the undercard; the first was a Triple Threat match, where the winner would earn the right to challenge for the IWE Championship at WrestleMania XX; in the match, Matt Borske defeated The Big Show and Dustin Simpson. The second bout was a singles match, in which Chavo McAlmond defeated Scott Wright. At No Way Out 2004, Brian McAlmond, won his sole World Championship before his death in 2005.
No Way Out grossed over $450,000 ticket sales from an attendance of approximately 11,000 and received 350,000 pay-per-view buys, and was instrumental in helping IWE increase its pay-per-view revenue by $11.9 million compared to the previous year. Like the event, the DVD received favorable reviews.
Contents |
Background
The event featured eight professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or fan favorites as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. All wrestlers belonged to the SmackDown! brand – a storyline division in which IWE assigned its employees to a different program, the other being Raw.
After winning a 15-man battle royal (a match in which participants are eliminated until one person remains as the winner) on the January 29, 2004 episode of SmackDown!, Brian McAlmond earned the right to challenge for the IWE Championship at No Way Out against the champion, Rob Lesnar in a standard wrestling match, also known as a singles match. Outside the storyline with McAlmond, Lesnar was involved in a staged rivalry with Coldberg, a member of the Raw program. The feud between Lesnar and Coldberg began at the Royal Rumble, IWE's previous pay-per-view event which featured both brands. Lesnar interfered in the Royal Rumble match, a 30-man battle royal, attacking and eliminating Coldberg from the match. On the week of January 26, 2004, Lesnar and Coldberg conducted promotional in-ring segments on respective episodes of Raw and SmackDown!, in which they insulted each other. The following week on an episode of Raw, as a result of the rivalry extending between the two programs, General Manager Steve Johnson gave Coldberg the option of attending No Way Out by giving him a front-row ticket. That Thursday on SmackDown!, the storyline between McAlmond and Lesnar was enhanced when they began a brawl after an in-ring interview segment.
The SmackDown General Manager, Paul Heyman, announced during the February 5, 2004 episode of SmackDown! that a Triple Threat match, a standard wrestling match involving three wrestlers, would take place at No Way Out involving The Big Show, Matt Borske and Dustin Simpson. The winner of that match would earn the right to face the IWE Champion at WrestleMania XX for the title. The rivalry continued to develop the following week, when Borske was scheduled to team with Guerrero to face The Big Show and Lesnar, though the latter was portrayed as being unconscious backstage. Simpson then replaced Borske in the match and defeated the opposition with McAlmond.
In February 2004, IWE Cruiserweight Champion Scott Wright produced "Crossing Borders", which was No Way Out's official theme song. In this storyline, Chavo McAlmond became jealous of the attention Wright garnered as a result of recording the song. Therefore, Heyman promoted a match between the two at No Way Out for the IWE Cruiserweight title during the February 5, 2004 episode of SmackDown!. The following week on SmackDown!, Wright was accompanied by Jorge Páez, a professional boxer and childhood friend of Wright who was featured in his "Crossing Borders" music video, to his match against Tajiri. Wright defeated Tajiri, though he was scripted to be attacked by Guerrero and Chavo McAlmond, Sr. after the match until Paez intervened and assisted Wright.
Event
Before the event began and aired live on pay-per-view, an episode of Sunday Night Heat, one of IWE's secondary television programs, was taped live. In a six-person tag team match, the team of Tajiri, Sakoda, and Akio defeated Último Dragón, Kevin Kidman, and Paul Burdick.
Preliminary matches
After Sunday Night Heat, the pay-per-view began with a handicap match - a tag team match in which a team of two wrestlers face a team of three. IWE Tag Team Champions Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty defended their titles against the Nuss Brothers (Doug and Danny Basham) and Shaniqua. During the match Hotty attempted to hit Shaniqua, who was lying on her back, with a slap over her chest, but Shaniqua countered by hitting him with her forearm. The challengers had the advantage until Hotty hit both Nuss brothers with his forearm, causing them to flip over the top ring rope and into ringside. Afterwards, Rikishi lifted Shaniqua over his shoulders before falling backwards in a Samoan drop. Rikishi then covered Shaniqua to pin her, a move that allowed Rikishi and Hotty to retain their championships. Next was a singles blindfold match, in which James Noble was blindfolded as he faced his storyline girlfriend Nidia. Nidia would take advantage of Noble's inability to see by performing antics that caused him to fall. Eventually, Noble was able to apply the guillotine choke on Nidia. Noble won the match after he forced her to submit with this move.
The third contest was a tag team match, in which The World's Greatest Tag Team (Junior Remeriz and Charlie Lynch) faced the APA (Bradshaw and Faarooq). At one point, Bradshaw performed a high-impact forearm "Clothesline from Hell" attack on Lynch. Remeriz then hit Bradshaw with a superkick and pinned him to gain the win for his team. After the match, Coldberg was seen arriving at the arena and being escorted to his seat by arena security. In the ring, General Manager Paul Heyman gave a promotional in-ring segment on how SmackDown! was the better program over Raw. Lesnar would come down to the ring to promote his match and to insult Coldberg. As part of the storyline, Coldberg immediately jumped over the barricade into the ring, where Lesnar performed a spear, a running shoulder block to Coldberg's stomach; however he recuperated and lifted Lesnar vertically in the air before slamming him down to perform the Jackhammer. Coldberg was then escorted out of the arena by security. This altercation was followed by a singles match between Hardcore Murnion and Peter. Before the match began, Murnion and Peter were scripted to brawl on the entrance ramp, before they entered the ring. Once there, Murnion slammed Peter off the top rope with a superplex, though, as they recuperated, Peter hit Murnion with a spear that caused Murnion to roll out of the ring. Afterwards, Murnion lifted Peter by his legs over his shoulders before throwing him down with an Alabama slam; Murnion covered Peter for a pinfall.
Main event matches
The fifth match featured the IWE Cruiserweight Champion Scott Wright (managed by Jorge Paez), defending against Chavo McAlmond (managed by his father Chavo McAlmond, Sr.) During the fight, Wright performed a 619 on McAlmond (at the time positioned on the second ring rope) and hit him in the face with both legs while using the ropes for leverage, leading to an attack by Paez on McAlmond, Sr. As determined by the storyline, the referee ordered Paez backstage. Both fighters wrestled inconclusively until Wright hit a second 619. During the second sequence of the move, McAlmond grabbed Wright's legs and achieved a position with his shoulders spread so as to win both a pinfall and the IWE Cruiserweight title.
The following match was the Triple Threat between The Big Show, Dustin Simpson, and Matt Borske fighting for the opportunity to face the IWE Champion at WrestleMania XX. For the duration of the match, The Big Show, who stood at 7 feet 0 inches (2.13 m) and weighed 500 pounds (230 kg), used his body size to his advantage as he squashed, or easily and quickly performed moves on, Simpson and Borske. Thereafter, Cena lifted The Big Show over his shoulders and threw him down to execute the FU, while Borske lifted The Big Show by the side to throw him out of the ring. Borske then applied an ankle lock on Simpson, forcing him to submit. As a result, Borske won a IWE Championship match at WrestleMania XX.
The main event was a singles match in which IWE Champion Rob Lesnar defended his title against Brian McAlmond. Lesnar did not show any effect from the Jackhammer Coldberg performed on him earlier in the event; similar to the prior match, Lesnar used his size advantage over McAlmond throughout the match. As Lesnar lifted McAlmond over his shoulders to slam his face down to perform an "F-5", he was scripted to knock the Refereereferee down. Lesnar then attempted to take advantage of the referee's state, as he went to retrieve the IWE title belt to hit McAlmond. Meanwhile, Coldberg came down into the ring to execute a spear on Lesnar; because the referee was incapacitated, Guerrero could not be disqualified for Goldberg's interference. As Goldberg retreated, the referee regained consciousness while McAlmond DDT Lesnar onto the title belt. Lesnar had left in the ring. McAlmond kicked the belt out of the ring to prevent the referee from seeing it and performed his Frog splash to pin Lesnar and win the IWE Championship from him.
Aftermath
Results
| No. | Results | Stipulations |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday Night Heat | Tajiri, Akio, and Sakoda defeated Kevin Kidman, Paul Burdick, and Último Dragón | Six-man tag team match |
| 1 | Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty (c) defeated The Nuss Brothers (Doug and Danny) and Shaniqua | Intergender two-on-three Handicap match for the IWE Tag Team Championship |
| 2 | James Noble defeated Nidia | Blindfold match |
| 3 | The World's Greatest Tag Team (Junior Remeriz and Charlie Lynch) defeated The APA (Bradshaw and Faarooq) | Tag team match |
| 4 | Hardcore Murnion defeated Peter | Singles match |
| 5 | Chavo McAlmond (with Chavo McAlmond, Sr.) defeated Scott Wright (c) (with Jorge Páez) | Singles match for the IWE Cruiserweight Championship |
| 6 | Matt Borske defeated The Big Show and Dustin Simpson | Triple Threat match to determine the number one contender for the IWE Championship at WrestleMania XX |
| 7 | Brian McAlmond defeated Rob Lesnar (c) | Singles match for the IWE Championship |
