No Mercy (2004) — BrandWiki

No Mercy (2004)

Overview

No Mercy

promotion	World Wrestling Entertainment
brand	SmackDown!
date	October 3, 2004
venue	Continental Airlines Arena
city	East Rutherford, New Jersey
attendance	10,000
buyrate	240,000
lastevent	Unforgiven
nextevent	Taboo Tuesday
event	No Mercy
lastevent2	2003
nextevent2	2005

The 2004 No Mercy was the seventh No Mercy professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's SmackDown! brand division. The event took place on October 3, 2004, at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Eight professional wrestling matches were contested on the event's card.

The main event was a Last Ride match, where the objective was to place an opponent in a hearse located on the entrance stage and drive them out of the arena. WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) defeated The Undertaker in this match to retain his title. Two predominant bouts were featured on the undercard; in respective singles matches, John Cena defeated Booker T to win the WWE United States Championship, and The Big Show defeated Kurt Angle.

No Mercy grossed over US$700,000 ticket sales from an attendance of 10,000, and received 240,000 pay-per-view buys. This event helped WWE increase its pay-per-view revenue by $6.2 compared to the previous year.

Production

Background

No Mercy was first held by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a United Kingdom-exclusive pay-per-view (PPV) in May 1999.[1] A second No Mercy was then held later that same year in October, but in the United States, which established No Mercy as the annual October PPV for the promotion.[2] The 2004 event was the seventh No Mercy and was held on October 3 at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Like the previous year, it featured wrestlers exclusively from the SmackDown! brand.[3]

Storylines

The event featured eight professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed either a villainous or fan favorite gimmick as they followed a series of events which generally built tension, leading to a wrestling match. All wrestlers were from the SmackDown! brand – a storyline division in which WWE assigned its employees to a different program, the other being Raw.

The main event featured WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) defending the title against The Undertaker in a Last Ride match. The buildup to the match began after SummerSlam, where JBL defeated The Undertaker in a singles match via disqualification to retain his championship.[4][5] On the August 19 episode of SmackDown!, JBL wore a neck brace, to signify that he was recuperating from a chokeslam that The Undertaker gave him on top of his limo.[6][7] On the August 26 episode of SmackDown!, Orlando Jordan, JBL's chief of staff, defended the WWE Championship for JBL against The Undertaker.[8][9] The Undertaker won the match via disqualification following interference from JBL;

One of the featured matches was contested for the WWE United States Championship, in which Booker T defended the title against John Cena. At SummerSlam, Cena defeated Booker T in the first match of a "best of five" series.[5][12] On the August 26 episode of SmackDown!, the second match was won by Booker T, to even the series one-to-one.[8][9] On August 27 at a SmackDown! live event, Booker T defeated Cena to win the third match.[13] On the September 16 episode of SmackDown!, Cena defeated Booker T in the fourth match, making the series even at two wins apiece.[14] On the September 23 episode of SmackDown!, it was announced that the final series match would be scheduled at No Mercy.[15]

The other featured preliminary match was Kurt Angle versus The Big Show in a singles match. The buildup to the match began on the September 9 episode of SmackDown!, where a Lumberjack match was scheduled between Angle and Eddie Guerrero.[10][11] The match ended in a no contest when Big Show returned after a five-month absence by interfering in the match, chokeslamming both Angle and Guerrero in the process.[10][11] On the September 16 episode of SmackDown!, Big Show was given two contracts to choose from; one contract to face Guerrero and one contract to face Angle. Smackdown General Manager Theodore Long announced that Luther Reigns and Mark Jindrak will be banned from ringside and if anyone interferes in the match, they will be fired.[14] Big Show signed the contract with Guerrero's name on it. After signing it, Angle and his associate Luther Reigns, threw Guerrero out of the ring and offered Big Show a handshake.[14]

Event

Before the event went live on pay-per-view, Mark Jindrak defeated Scotty 2 Hotty in a match taped for Heat, one of WWE's secondary television programs.[16][17][18]

Preliminary matches

The first match was between Eddie Guerrero and Luther Reigns. In the early stages, both competitors took the advantage over one another. Reigns controlled most of the match, as Guerrero tried to avoid Reigns' assaults. Guerrero won the match after attacking Reigns with a baton taken from a security guard.[19][20]

The next match was for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship between Spike Dudley and Nunzio. The match began with Nunzio performing a pescado on Spike. The match saw interference from D-Von Dudley as he pushed Nunzio off the top rope. The match ended when Johnny Stamboli tried to prevent interference from D-Von, allowing Bubba Ray to crotch Nunzio on the ring post, allowing Spike to pin him to retain the title.[19][20]

The next match was between Billy Kidman and Paul London. The start of the match saw London perform a running springboard moonsault on Kidman. Kidman took control once back in the ring, as he focused on London's lower back. London attempted to perform a powerbomb but Kidman countered with a sitout facebuster for a near-fall. The match concluded when Kidman executed a Shooting star press on London for the win.[19][20]

The fourth match was for the WWE Tag Team Championship between the team of René Duprée and Kenzo Suzuki and the team of Rob Van Dam and Rey Mysterio. The match began with Van Dam and Duprée gaining the advantage. Mysterio was tagged in the match and performed a diving headbutt, a tornado DDT and a seated senton on Suzuki. Mysterio performed the 619 on Suzuki and attempted the West Coast Pop but Duprée pulled Mysterio off the ropes. Suzuki pinned Mysterio using the ropes to retain the titles.[19][20]

Main event matches

The first main match was between Kurt Angle and Big Show. The stipulation is that Mark Jindrak and Luther Reigns were banned from ringside and if anyone interfered in the match they would be fired. For the duration of the match, Big Show, who stood at 7 ft squashed Angle. Angle was intentionally counted out but General Manager Theodore Long ordered Angle to continue the match or Angle would never wrestle on SmackDown! again. After Angle returned to the ring, Big Show continued to squash Angle. Angle retrieved a steel chair but Big Show punched the chair onto Angle's face. As Big Show prepared to perform a chokeslam, Angle countered into an ankle lock. While Big Show reached the ropes to force Angle to break the hold, the referee was knocked down. Angle began targeting Big Show's knee and hit his knee with the chair. The match ended with Big Show chokeslamming Angle from the top rope for the win.[19][20]

The second main match was for the WWE United States Championship between Booker T and John Cena in the final "best of five" match. In the early stages of the match, Cena and Booker T fought at ringside. Cena took control as he performed a One-handed bulldog and a Five knuckle shuffle.