IWE WrestleMania 20
From Iwe
| WrestleMania XX | ||
| ||
| Tagline(s) | Where it all Begins... Again | |
| Theme song(s) | "Step Up" by Drowning Pool "Touché" by Godsmack | |
| Imformation | ||
| Promotion | International Wrestling Entertainment | |
| Brand(s) | Raw SmackDown! | |
| Date | March 14, 2004 | |
| Attendance | 20,000 | |
| Venue | Madison Square Garden | |
| City | New York, New York | |
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||
| No Way Out (2004) | WrestleMania XX | Backlash (2004) |
| WrestleMania chronology | ||
| WrestleMania XIX | WrestleMania XX | WrestleMania 21 |
WrestleMania XX was the twentieth WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) produced by International Wrestling Entertainment (IWE). It took place on March 14, 2004 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The event was a joint-promotion pay-per-view event, featuring performers from the Raw and SmackDown! brands. The card for the event featured two main events. The main match for the Raw brand was a Triple Threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship between champion Triple K, Ryan Barnhart and Kevin Hunter. Hunter won the match, making Triple K submit via the Crippler Crossface. The main match for the SmackDown! brand featured Brian McAlmond versus Matt Borske for the IWE Championship which Brian McAlmond won after a Small package. The event featured the return of The Undertaker, who defeated Kane after a Tombstone Piledriver. Also on the card was the final match in the company for both Coldberg and Rob Lesnar, with Stone Cold Steve Johnson as the special guest referee. After Coldberg won the match following a Jackhammer, both men were given a Stone Cold Stunner by Johnson on their way out.
WrestleMania XX was the third WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden but the fourth to take place in the New York metropolitan area (following WrestleMania I, WrestleMania 2, and WrestleMania X). The event grossed US$ 2.4 million in ticket sales, making the Pay-Per-View the highest grossing event ever for IWE at Madison Square Garden. More than 20,000 people from 16 countries, 48 states attended the event, which was also televised in more than 90 countries. The event generated an estimated $13.5 million of economic activity for New York City and created an equivalent of 96 full-year jobs.
Contents |
[edit] Background
The main rivalry heading into the pay-per-view was on the Raw brand, with Triple K, Ryan Barnhart and Kevin Hunter feuding over the World Heavyweight Championship. This would mark the 3rd pay per view event that Triple K would defend a World Championship at Madison Square Garden. The first event was January 2000 at the Royal Rumble, where Triple K retained the then-known IWF Championship over Cactus Jack. The second event at the same arena was in November 2002 at Survivor Series, where Triple K defended the World Championship in the 1st ever Six man Elimination Chamber match, which was won by Ryan Barnhart. Triple K was the champion heading into the WrestleMania XX event with the origins of the rivalry beginning on the December 29, 2003 episode of Raw, when Michaels challenged Triple H for the World title in Michaels' hometown of San Antonio, Texas. As it looked like Barnhart was going to win his 5th World title over Triple K, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff got to the ring at the last minute and made the pinfall but stopped at a 2 count, thus screwing Barnhart in the process. At the Royal Rumble event on January 25, Triple K and Barnhart faced each other again in a Last Man Standing match for the title, which resulted in a draw, and, as a result, Triple K retained the title, leaving question on who was the better of the two. Also at the pay-per-view, in the Royal Rumble match, SmackDown!'s Kevin Hunter won the contest by last eliminating The Big Show. The following night, on the January 26 edition of Raw, Barnhart and Triple K were involved in an in-ring confrontation when Raw's authority figure (referred to as the "Sheriff"), Steve Johnson, made his way to the ring. He stated that, although Barnhart should have a rematch, he had to "enforce the law". He stated that, in the rules it specifies that the winner of the Royal Rumble may face either the IWE Champion or World Heavyweight Champion. The winner of the Royal Rumble, Hunter, made his way to the ring, and stated that he would be challenging the World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania XX. On the February 9, 2004 edition of Raw, a contract signing took place between Hunter and World Champion, Triple K. As Triple K signed his name on the paper, Barnhart came out to inform Benoit that the last thing he wanted to do is rain on his parade. He then stated that he more than anybody can respect Hunter's effort to win the Royal Rumble match and earning a World title shot but suggested that Hunter could've stayed on SmackDown! to take care of business while Barnhart, himself, was trying to finish his 10 year issue with Triple K on behalf of the Raw brand. He last stated that he is this close to finishing his rivalry and plans to do so at WrestleMania XX for the World title. Hunter responded by saying that it's just not going to happen and stated that he's the one who challenges Triple K for the World title, not Barnhart. After Barnhart responded by superkicking Hunter, he then signed his own name on the paper as the challenger to Triple K's World Championship. On the following week's episode of Raw, Barnhart defeated Hunter due to interference by Triple K. Afterwords, Steve Johnson appeared and announced that Triple K would be defending his World Championship at WrestleMania against both Barnhart and Hunter in a Triple threat match. On the March 1, 2004 edition of Raw, after Barnhart and Hunter lost to Kevin McAlmond and Batista in a tag team match, World Champion, Triple K and the rest of Evolution attacked Barnhart and Hunter, ending wit Triple K nailing them with the Pedigree and rubbing his World title belt into their faces while they were laying motionless in the ring.
The main feud on the SmackDown! brand was between Brian McAlmond and Matt Borske for the IWE Championship. In the beginning of 2004, Borske and McAlmond were allies while McAlmond feuded with his nephew Chavo McAlmond. On the January 29, 2004 edition of SmackDown!, Brian McAlmond last eliminated Borske in a 15-man Royal Rumble style match to earn a shot at the IWE Championship. At the prior pay per view, No Way Out, Matt Borske defeated The Big Show and Dustin Simpson in a Triple threat match to earn himself a title shot at WrestleMania on the same event where McAlmond defeated Rob Lesnar for the IWE title. On the February 19, 2004 edition of SmackDown!, Borske was the special guest referee in a match between IWE Champion, Brian McAlmond and IWE Cruiserweight Champion, Chavo McAlmond. As Brian was about to close in on the victory, Borske stopped the 3 count and would turn on McAlmond, thus becoming a villain once again. On the following week's edition of SmackDown!, McAlmond was eagar get his revenge on Borske while looking for him but when he finally saw Borske, he shoved SmackDown General Manager, Paul Heyman and his assistant Torrie Marie out of his way only for Heyman to have McAlmond escorted out of the arena by security. McAlmond was scheduled to team with John Cena to take on Chavo McAlmond and the Big Show in a tag team match on that night but due to McAlmond being escorted out of the arena, he was replaced by Scott Wright for the tag match, which Wright and Simpson won. Later that night, Borske appeared and stated that he attacked McAlmond for the SmackDown! fans and for the IE. He then referred to McAlmond as a former drug addict that shouldn't represent SmackDown! as the IWE Champion and stated that one day people will be thanking him for a champion that they could be proud of. McAlmond then came back to the arena and assaulted Borske until he got arrested by orders of Paul Heyman. As McAlmond got taken out of the building in handcuffs, Borske made some insulting comments to him until the officers drove away with McAlmond in the Police car. On the March 4, 2004 edition of SmackDown!, during McAlmond's match with Heyman (while he was handcuffed), Borske interfered and knocked him down a few times until McAlmond defended himself by spitting on Borske. As McAlmond begged Borske to nail him with the IWE Championship belt, Borske did so and raised title the belt over-head to show an example for their match Wrestlemania XX.
This also marks the first WrestleMania to have a match billed as "interpromotional", which means that a party from Raw would wrestle a party from SmackDown!. IWE owner, Gary Wright, named three matches to be interpromotional on the February 16 edition of Raw. The first was a match a tag team match featuring SmackDown!'s Jessica Wilson and Sable, who had recently been featured in a pictorial in Playboy magazine, against Raw's Kelsey Carter and Miss Christy, who had protested the decision made by Hugh Hefner to not feature them.
The next match was made at the request of Kane, who had been receiving threats from his storyline brother, The Undertaker. This would mark the 2nd WrestleMania event that the Undertaker and Kane would go one-on-one with the first being WrestleMania XIV six years prior. In November 2003 at Survivor Series, Kane defeated Lewis Wright in an Ambulance match then during the latter event, he interfered and buryed The Undertaker alive in the Undertaker's match with Gary Wright On the November 20, 2003 edition of SmackDown, Kane appeared to give the Eulogy for the Undertaker. Kane claimed that the man as the Undertaker the world knew, has been dead for a long time because they were monsters and lived to strike fear into the hearts of normal men until the Undertaker portrayed himself (in the American Bad Ass/Big Evil persona) and became one of the fans. Kane stated that he watched Undertaker show compassion by defending Bonnie Wright (during her feud with Gary Wright) and show weakness in losing to Rob Lesnar for the IWE Championship at No Mercy. He then stated that Undertaker was not his brother nor a monster cause' a monster shows no compassion nor has weaknesses. He referred to Undertaker as an imposter and a fraud that he buried alive and ended the eulogy by saying R.I.P. Two months later, Kane participated in the Royal Rumble match where he heard the bell toll from the Undertaker's entrance music, distracting and distressing him and enabling Booker T to eliminate him from the ring. Over the following weeks, Kane repeatedly insisted that The Undertaker was "dead", only to be met with various paranormal incidents such as a rainstorm localized over the ramp on which he stood. On the last edition of Raw, Kane appeared to the ring and saw an empty Casket standing in the ring but as he opened it, he saw an urn inside of it. He then grabbed the microphone and asked if that's what he's been looking forward to. He also stated it's going to take more than an empty casket and an urn to intimidate and beat him. He then stated that the Undertaker's legacy, his 11-0 WrestleMania steak and his life is coming to an end as he said "it's back to the grave for you for good". As he clamied that It's over and that he's not afraid of the Undertaker. The lights turned out but this time, the 10,000 pound wrestling ring lifted off the ground with Kane standing in it and tilted side ways, which would be the final message sent from the Undertaker before their match at WrestleMania XX.
On the January 26, episode of Raw, Coldberg came to the ring, and demanded a match himself against Rob Lesnar, with whom he had problems over the past two months. The night before, Coldberg was entered in the Royal Rumble match, only to have Lesnar (who, as the reigning IWE Champion, was not entered into the match) interfered, causing Goldberg to be eliminated by Kurt Angle. 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. At the No Way Out event, Coldberg was seen arriving at the arena and being escorted to his front seat by security. Then SmackDown 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. Coldberg immediately jumped over the barricade into the ring, where Lesnar performed 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. During Lesnar's IWE title defense against Brian McAlmond later that night, Coldberg returned to the arena and interfered by executing a spear, which caused Lesnar to lose the title after McAlmond nailed him with a Frog splash. On the February 22, 2004 episode of Raw, Vince McMahon named the Interpromotional singles match pitting Lesnar versus Coldberg for WrestleMania XX with Steve Johnson as the special guest referee. During the match between Wright and Eric Bischoff, Lesnar appeared on Raw and nailed Steve Johnson with an F-5 then stole Johnson's four-wheeler. A few days later on SmackDown!, Lesnar stated that he appeared on Raw just to get back at Austin for giving Coldberg the front-row seat ticket and suggesting that Coldberg would attack Lesnar at No Way Out. Behind the scenes, it was widely known that the match would be Coldberg's last in IWE. Only a week before WrestleMania, however, rumors surfaced that Lesnar, too, was leaving in order to pursue a career in the National Football League. On the last edition of SmackDown! prior to WrestleMania, Steve Johnson appeared to get his fourwheeler back from Lesnar only for the entire roster to get in his way by orders of SmackDown! General manager Paul Heyman. Moments later, the entire roster had decided to move aside and let Johnson by to confront Lesnar in the ring. As Austin got to the ring, he and Lesnar traded punches with Austin attempting to nail Lesnar with the Stone Cold stunner only for Lesnar to escape, leaving Johnson to finally get back his fourwheeler and closing in on the show with his trademark beer bash.
[edit] Event
[edit] Preliminary matches
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentator | Michael Cole (SmackDown!) |
| Tazz (SmackDown!) | |
| Jerry Lawler (Raw) | |
| Jim Ross (Raw) | |
| Carlos Cabrera (Spanish) | |
| Hugo Savinovich (Spanish) | |
| Interviewer | Lilian Garcia |
| Ring announcer | Tony Chimel (SmackDown!) |
| Howard Finkel (Raw) | |
| Referees | Nick Patrick (SmackDown!) |
| Jim Korderas (SmackDown!) | |
| Brian Hebner (SmackDown!) | |
| Charles Robinson (SmackDown!) | |
| Chad Patton (Raw) | |
| Earl Hebner (Raw) | |
| Mike Chioda (Raw) | |
| Jack Doan (Raw) | |
| Tim White (Raw) |
The event began with the Boys Choir of Harlem singing "America the Beautiful". The first match that aired was a singles match between The Big Show and Dustin Simpson for the IWE United States Championship, the first time the title was ever defended at the event; the match started out with The Big Show beating down on the challenger, not giving him any room. Simpson hit an early FU though only secured a 2 count. Simpson grabbed his signature chain and tried to attack Big Show with it, however the referee saw Simpson with the chain and confiscated it due to it being illegal in the match. With the referee securing the chain with his back turned to the match, Simpson hit Big Show with his hidden "Word-Life" jointed rings and hoisted The Big Show up onto his shoulders for his finishing move, FU. Simpson then immediately pinned The Big Show to win the match and the United States Championship.
The next match was a Fatal Four-Way tag match between the teams of Kyle Van Dam and Booker T, Collin McCullough and Marcous Gindrak, The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Harlan and Scott) and La Résistance (Brandon Claassen and Robert Rogge) for the World Tag Team Championship, held by Van Dam and Booker T. The match saw quick action between all four teams, and ended when Rogge was pinned by Van Dam after Booker T used his signature Scissor kick on him, which was then followed by Van Dam's signature dive from the top rope, the Five-Star Frog Splash, leading to the two retaining their title.
The third match was between Khristian and Khris Jericho. The match centered around both men furiously attacking each other; Khristian won the match after Jericho's love interest, Bailey Dalton, hit Jericho in the face with her elbow thinking Jericho was Khristian, allowing Khristian to roll him up for the win. Following the match Dalton turned on Jericho, slapping him several times allowing Khristian to hit him with his finishing move, the Unprettier.
Next up was a Handicap match featuring Evolution (Kevin McAlmond, Batista and Ric Flair) against The Rock 'n' Sock Connection (The Rock and Mick Foley). Evolution won the match when McAlmond pinned Foley after successfully executing an RKO
"Mean" Gene Okerlund then introduced the IWE Hall of Fame Class of 2004. This was followed by the interpromotional Playboy Evening Gown match between Jessica Wilson and Sable against Kelsey Carter and Miss Christy, which had both teams wrestle in lingerie. SmackDown!'s team of Wilson and Sable would get the victory after Wilson caught Christy with a roll up cover for a pinfall victory.
The next match was a gauntlet style match called the Cruiserweight Open for the Cruiserweight Championship, which saw cruiserweight competitors around the outside of the ring, while two competitors wrestled in the ring. As one wrestler lost, another one entered. Último Dragón and Shane Linguini started the match with Dragón getting a pinfall victory after the Dragon-DDT, but was then forced to submit by James Noble with the Dragon Sleeper, who next eliminated Funaki in 8 seconds, a WrestleMania record. Nunzio was then in the match, but was eliminated after being counted out of the match when he was unable to return to the ring by the referee's count of ten. Kevin Kidman then entered the match, pinning and eliminating Noble following a top rope BK-Bomb. Kidman was then pinned and eliminated by Scott Wright with a Modified Powerbomb from the top rope. Tajiri was the next entrant, but was also pinned by Wright following a standing West Coast Pop. Akio was the next scheduled entrant but was unable to compete due to being inadvertently attacked by Tajiri with his signature green mist he spat out of his mouth when Wright ducked. The Cruiserweight Champion, Chavo McAlmond, was the final entrant and pinned Wright with a reversal of Wright's Sunset Flip to win with the assistance of his father Chavo McAlmond, Sr., thus retaining the title.
The seventh match featured Rob Lesnar and Coldberg with special guest referee, Steve Johnson. The beginning of the match began with both men staring each other down, jawing back and forth, with no physical action for the first seven minutes prompting the crowd to start chanting "this match sucks", causing an exasperated Johnson at one point to coax them into locking up. The fact that they both were leaving the IWE immediately after the match, as well as the lack of effort brought forth by both Coldberg and Lesnar drew large heat from the fans throughout the match. Coldberg then successfully took Lesnar down with a Spear, that would only draw a two count after a pin attempt. Lesnar then executed the F-5 maneuver on Coldberg, but also resulted in a two-count pin attempt. Afterwards, Lesnar missed an attempt to knock Coldberg down, allowing Coldberg to execute another spear and a successful Jackhammer powerslam that led to a three count for Coldberg, thus winning the match. After the match, Steve Johnson executed a Stone Cold Stunner on both competitors to the crowd's delight and celebrated with beer in the ring.
The next match was another four-way tag team match, but was for the IWE Tag Team Championship between the champions, Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty, versus the APA (Bradshaw and Faarooq), the Nuss Brothers (Doug and Danny), and the World's Greatest Tag Team (Junior Remeriz and Charlie Lynch), which saw the champions retain after Rikishi pinned Doug with a Bonzai Drop.
The eighth match was the encounter of Courtney and Molly Murnion for the IWE Women's Championship, where Holly would have to be shaved bald if she lost. Courtney would counter a Widow's peak maneuver attempt by Murnion into a Backslide pin, drawing a three count, thus winning the match and retaining the IWE Women's Championship. Murnion tried running towards the backstage area to escape the match's stipulation, but was eventually stopped by Courtney who would knock her out and place her onto the barber's chair, shaving her bald.
[edit] Main event matches
The next match featured Brian McAlmond and Matt Borske over the IWE Championship. The match was centered around both men maneuvering around on the match. McAlmond used a DDT and Frog Splash maneuver on Borske that would result in a pin attempt; Borske then recovered and secured McAlmond with an ankle lock hold. However, McAlmond escaped the hold by rolling through it and throwing Borske out of the ring. As Borske was outside, McAlmond loosened his ring boot to relieve the pain. As Borske returned to the ring, he applied another ankle lock on McAlmond that would end up being unsuccessful with McAlmond escaping the hold by pushing Borske off with his other foot leaving Borske holding the McAlmond's loosened ring boot. With Borske confused, McAlmond executed a Roll-up pin maneuver leading to a successful pinfall, thus winning the match and retaining the IWE Championship.
The tenth match of the event was the encounter of The Undertaker and Kane, which would be Undertaker's first match since he was buried alive at Survivor Series 2003. The Undertaker made his return under his "Deadman" gimmick, as he was accompanied to the ring by Paul Bearer. The two wrestlers brawled in the beginning of the match, until Kane delivered a Chokeslam to Undertaker, which he sat up from shortly afterward while Kane was taunting Paul Bearer. The Undertaker then retaliated giving a Kane a Chokeslam of his own and executing his deadly finisher Tombstone piledriver into a successful pinfall, thus winning the match and remaining undefeated at WrestleMania with a 12-0 record. This was the second time that Kane faced off against Undertaker at WrestleMania and losing again, like the previous effort at WrestleMania XIV.
The main event was a Triple threat match over the World Heavyweight Championship between Triple K, Kevin Hunter and Ryan Barnhart. This match marked the seventh title defense of the night, the most in WrestleMania history. The match started with Hunter and Barnhart wanting to face the champion, but would wrestle each other, trying to gain an advantage before Triple K's intervention leading to the match going back-and-forth between all three men, hitting their signature holds and maneuvers throughout with the action going to the outside with Barnhart ascending to the top rope and performing a moonsault onto Hunter and Triple K called the moonsault. Hunter would soon gain control over Barnhart when he applied his signature hold the Crippler Crossface. As Barnhart was about to submit, Triple K would save the match, beating both men, and executing his own finisher, the Pedigree, on Hunter before Barnhart halted his attempt to win the match. Triple K and Barnahrt would subsequently team up to suplex Hunter through the announcer's table, trying to eliminate Hunter from the match. The two continued to wrestle until Hunter made his return to action to have Barnhart then attempt to hit Hunter with a his signature kick, the Sweet Chin Music, but Hunter countered it, throwing Michaels out of the ring. As this occurred, Triple K attempted to execute the Pedigree again on Hunter, but was countered and was locked into the Crippler Crossface Triple K to submit. As a result, Hunter won the match and the World Heavyweight Championship. After the match, Brian McAlmond came to the ring and the two embraced while confetti dropped for the emotional ending of WrestleMania XX.
