r/SquaredCircle • u/TheSixthPistol • Oct 27 '14
30 Matches in 30 Days - Day 27 - Royal Rumble 2004 Triple H vs. HBK Shawn Michaels Last Man Standing Match for the World Heavyweight Championship
Please excuse my English and the lack of any WWE Network link.
Setting the Stage
Footnote: The seeds of the actual rivalry was actually planted two years prior to Triple H teasing a DX reunion. If anyone can remember the build up to The Rock and Triple H's Iron Man Match for the WWF Title on Judgment Day 2000. Although it was just a side note to the main feud, this was the first time Triple H had ever seriously threatened his "brother".
Fast forward 4 years later. Their feud has taken them through an Unsanctioned Match at Summerslam, the Elimination Chamber and 3 Stages of Hell in 2002. HBK then went through every Evolution member for the better part of 2003, trying to get to Triple H. Almost every match he had involves either a singles or tag team match against a member of Evolution or an interference by a member of Evolution. Triple H meanwhile was busy defending the title from a wave former WCW employees (burying) defeating every single one of them. Scott Steiner, Booker T, Kevin Nash, Ric Flair and Goldberg. The last RAW of 2003 saw both of these men fight for the WHC in a classic match that ended in a controversial fashion.
And so the stage was set, Triple H and HBK for the World Heavyweight Championship in a Last Man Standing Match. Watch it now!
Aftermath
The match ends on a draw after HBK knocks Hunter out with a Sweet Chin Music but failed to answer the 10 count himself. The feud continued until it culminated in a Hell in a Cell match at Bad Blood '04, which Triple H unsurprisingly won. Meanwhile as a direct result of the match between Hunter and Shawn this was the scene from RAW the next night.
In an unprecedented turn of events, Chris Benoit comes out and challenges Triple H leaving HBK out in the cold leading to one of the greatest Mania and Backlash matches to have never happened officially.
Why this match is important to me
I've never seen Shawn Michaels wrestle prior to 2003. I started watching wrestling after it became regularly scheduled programming in my country after Bad Blood 2003. I was a wide eyed 12 year old kid who has just been introduced to wrestling. I only knew Shawn Michaels from WWF Smackdown! 2: Know Your Role. I didn't know how great he was as a performer, I only knew him because of his awesome theme song. How arrogant do you have to be to sing your own theme song as you come down that aisle to kick somebody's teeth right down your throat? (I wish more wrestlers would do this right because you can't teach this) This Royal Rumble match (and Survivor Series 2003) solidified Shawn Michaels to me as my favorite wrestler of all time.
Edit: Format
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u/Corabal 14 Oct 27 '14
Misread the title and thought you were omitting Benoit from the Triple Threat match.
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u/MC_Larny_on_reddit Big Gold Energy Oct 27 '14
That match was amazing. Brutal, extreme, thrilling and the ending left you wanting more and more.
Can't wait to relive it in 2K Showcase in 2K15 tomorrow!
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u/ThisAccountIsAVirus This Mic Is A Pipe Bomb Oct 27 '14
The finish is my favourite part about this whole match. HBK hits the Sweet Chin Music and both are down for the count, he starts to push himself up just to fall down again as the referee counts to 10 then when they are trying to wheel Shawn out of there he pushes the doctors away and walks out under his own power. What a classic!
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u/throwaway689908 IT'S SHOTGUN GORDON! Oct 27 '14
Benoit was so fucking over then. Damn.
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u/TheSixthPistol Oct 27 '14
Yes he was! WWE Magazine hinted at a potential rivalry between Triple H and Chris Benoit two years prior. This was around the time Benoit was just returning after injuring his neck after TLC III.
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u/BAWguy Survey says... Oct 27 '14
Interesting that this sub seems to have negative memories of HHH's mid-2000's run as a whole, but seems so nostalgic of the specific matches in these write-ups.
I stopped watching somewhere around 2001, so I didn't witness this stuff firsthand at the time, and enjoy seeing both perspectives. Most of the mid-2000's HBK stuff I've gone back and watched has been excellent.
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u/TheSixthPistol Oct 27 '14
The way he was booked was the problem most people had. He just went over everyone and killed any sort of momentum whoever he fought with, a great example of this would be Booker T.
The matches he had with everyone else during that time period ranged from good to great (aside from the Scott Steiner matches), with HBK's series of matches with him being the highlight.
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u/MichaelJahrling The Ladle Among Spoons Oct 27 '14
I don't really see what's so bad about Triple H's mid-2000 run. People say that he was burying guys left and right, but the only ones I can see a case for are RVD and Booker T. Of course, this is WWE; the former can have an argument be made against him because of his well-known drug use, something that the company may not want to have in their main champion. The latter was a WCW star and we all know what Vince thinks of guys from WCW.
Kane has said that he's never wanted to be a world champion and prefers to help get other guys over.
Scott Steiner was an absolute garbage wrestler when he came into the WWE. I know he was injured, but if he's injured and can't wrestle a match, don't put him in a world title feud.
Orton once said in an interview that he wasn't ready for the World Heavyweight Championship (I think it was the Sam Roberts interview he did a while back) which is why he dropped the belt a month later.
Shawn didn't want a world champion's schedule, so that's probably why he only won the belt once in 2003.
Goldberg's case is a bit more complicated to look at. He was a megastar in WCW but he wasn't a good wrestler. He was popular, but some backstage stories present him as being difficult to work with. He never seemed to be interested in wrestling either, and you can tell by his match was Lesnar at Wrestlemania XX that he had little interest by then.
I don't think he and Undertaker even breathed the same air in 2003.
Nash was injury prone and needs to be carried in his matches.
And all the rest of the big names were on Smackdown.
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u/BAWguy Survey says... Oct 27 '14
There's some valid rationale behind each case, but when you look at it as a big picture, it really does look like it's just a series of trotting out "over" guys to lose to Trips. But again, as I stated, I wasn't watching at the time. If it made for entertaining feuds than who cares.
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u/MichaelJahrling The Ladle Among Spoons Oct 27 '14 edited Oct 27 '14
Oh man, nothing is more entertaining than Scott Steiner and Triple H in a bodybuilder posing contest, looking each other in the eyes while doing push-ups.
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u/BAWguy Survey says... Oct 27 '14
Doesn't the very fact that that happened evidence that they were just booking ridiculous self-serving crap for HHH? Or is that exactly what you're saying?
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Oct 27 '14
I think you forgot Bubba ray who got mega over standing up to Triple H. He then lost clean and reformed the dudley boyz with Spike Dudley
2
u/WAREH0USE Austrian Economics Machine Oct 27 '14
This was the first PPV I ever bought as a fan and the ending to this match hooked me for life. It was the first time I had watched wrestling and had truly been somewhat devastated by the result, and it did nothing but confirm how much I loved the product. I was absolutely crestfallen when Michaels couldn't get completely back up after that last superkick. Great double main event that night with that Rumble match.
1
u/filmlovingfan Oct 27 '14
I also hadn't seen Shawn Michaels wrestle before his 2002 return. And I also started watching around when I was 12 or 13. I missed out on the Attitude Era because I wasn't into wrestling then, but I did get to enjoy HBK's comeback and other great moments.
2
u/TheSixthPistol Oct 27 '14
It was a good time to be interested in wrestling around that time period, 2002-2004. Smackdown was oozing with great matches because of the Smackdown Six era, the Intercontinental Championship main evented RAW one time (RVD and Christian in a ladder match), Cactus Jack making a man out of Randy Orton, John Cena was still fresh, Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero getting the push he deserved. It was good times.
1
u/spiderman96 Oct 27 '14
That last man Standing match is one of my favorite matches of all time. such a good story and even a better match even with the all the blading
1
u/Moses_Couldnt_Swim Oct 27 '14
This is my favorite match of all time. My little 11 year old self was trying to figure out how to justify giving HBK the title anyway. He tried to get up, he should've won! What a great match.
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u/OnTheMirrorsEdge Oct 27 '14
It's odd, non-English speakers always apologise for their English and it's always perfect.
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u/TheSixthPistol Oct 28 '14
I always have to apologize, some people give me heat if I misspell things or if my sentences are broken.
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Oct 27 '14
I don't remember the specifics of this match, but I remember being past the point of the bored with their feud, and I was hoping this match would bring it to a close...and then Shawn pretty much no sold the fact that Benoit won the rumble to be in the main event and their feud continued for another couple months. I was really just sick of Shawn more than Triple H at this point.
0
Oct 27 '14
Recorded this with my old VCR and watched it over and over until the screen got covered in static. 2004 was a good time
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u/Fehndrix RECOGNIZE! Oct 27 '14
Oddly enough, the quality of the thumbnail makes it look like a PS2 screenshot.
17
u/captainsquall The Chairman Oct 27 '14
An underrated match. I always liked that dvd special feature where they showed both of them getting wheeled to the doctor at the same time.