9 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE SmackDown From 2004

2004 could be described as the year of John Cena. He had gone from almost fired in 2002 to becoming the man two years later. And yes, as Cena has said, a huge reason for this was Brock Lesnar decided to leave the company. We had some holes to fill. You also get the return of the dead man and in many ways a very significant line being drawn between Raw and SmackDown. You want to talk about the B-Show? Well, I think Vince McMahon certainly made that call. So what can we learn from all the blue brand shows in 2004? I'm Simon Miller. Let's find out. Number nine, the risk of all risks. November 4th, SmackDown. SmackDown, WWE was doing their on-the-show Tough Enough segments and basically bullying potential new recruits to see how they'd handle themselves. One of these has become super famous because it was when Kurt Angle challenged any of the contestants to get in the ring and basically scrapped with him for real. Now, WWE thought they'd foolproof this as the Tough Enough guys had been run ragged, or they'd been blown up so much, how could they possibly ever compete with the Olympic gold medalist, even if Kurt Angle at the time was a little bit beaten up? Sadly for him, it was MMA-trained Daniel Puder who accepted this war, and man, he decided to go all in. I assume Kurt was never planning to go 100%, so Puder took advantage of that, and he actually got Angle in the Kimura lock. If he had sunk that in properly, who knows where we'd be, and Kurt had to think fast. He sort of rolled Daniel onto his shoulders in the most devastating move in all of sports entertainment, the surprise roll-up, as the referee thought, you know what, I'm going to do a quick 1-2-3. This was a panic situation to save a lot of blushes, and Angle erupted afterwards too. He felt like this rookie had gone into business for himself. The real silliness was WWE even thinking they should do this. You're a predetermined product, damn it. Don't leave things to chance. Like all of us all of a sudden forgot that Brawl for All mess. It really would have been bad for Angle too because he was a legit shooter. The novices were presented exactly as that. Novices. I'm sure we would have figured it out, but let's just agree Kurt getting the pin was far better than the alternative, at least for Daniel Puder. Number eight, the Eddie Guerrero Frog Splash. Today when somebody does something crazy, it's often criticized because the weirdness moves on so fast it doesn't mean anything. We all stopped talking about it. Well, actually, that's nothing new, because wrestlers were falling foul to this back in 2004. It was a great year for Eddie Guerrero because he broke out as one of WWE's biggest stars, and his title win at No Way Out against Brock Lesnar is all time. If you want to feel warm and fuzzy in your tum-tum, it's right here. Eddie's first port of call was to turn the newly dubbed JBL into a mega-heel, though, so as a true professional, he got right on that. Some of their matches were absolute bloodbaths you wouldn't believe today, but on the 15th of July, WWE wanted them to end their feud, so booked him in a cage match on Smackdown. I just feel like this isn't remembered enough anyway, but towards the end, Guerrero does climb up to the top, and yep, he ruins Bradshaw with a splash of the frogs. You can see Eddie takes that bump hard as well. It could be selling, but good grief, he looks in pain. Kurt Angle would interfere to help JBL win, and maybe that's why we don't speak of this bump enough. It's not as bonkers as, say, a Mick Foley, but it is still a huge high-risk move that can always go wrong. So basically, this one deserves more praise, and that's why I'm here. Make sure you throw it in as and when insane bumps get brought up. 7. The other Eddie matches. Honestly, Guerrero was so good throughout the 2004 period and I suppose in hindsight was the peak of his WWE career. Right after No Way Out as the WWE Champion, he wrestled nephew Chavo and quite clearly given their bond, they knew the deal. We need Eddie to feel like a beast and they wrestled their asses off. It's like watching WCW from 1997. Kurt Angle was a special guest referee because him and Guerrero were at odds, and yep, it's the forgotten match between these two that we also need to give more love. On the 2nd of September, they have a 2 out of 3 falls bout, and it's so good. But I understand why we talk about Kurt versus Eddie from WrestleMania 20, but this one is also worthy of your eyes. They almost go 30 minutes before Angle wins 2 to 1, and I tell you, so many people don't even know this exists, because it's another one that rarely gets talked about. It's basically a ghost. So let's change that. Check out both today. You will not be disappointed. 6. The Draft So we hinted at this during the intro and yes, for whatever reason, Vince McMahon went big on Raw and sort of sold Smackdown off as a joke. This is mostly due to the now long shared skit of Triple H being moved to the blue brand, reacting like he was offended, before coming back to Raw before the evening was done. So yes, it was a troll. No disrespect to the following list either, but they just weren't major stars because WWE didn't treat them that way. Therefore, having Rene Dupree, Mark Jindrak and Spike Dudley as your big shift to Smackdown didn't work, the audience hadn't been programmed to care. Rob Van Dam and the Dudleys were way better, but they still weren't Triple H levels, and the whole draft had been centred around the game. You could also see it on the show itself too. The wrestlers busted their asses, but the creator was always more focused on what was happening on Mondays. Wrestlers would fall out about this backstage too. Talked about it a lot. Number five, the October Brawl. You will never recall this match just from the date. JBL was still the WWE Champion, and he took on Hardcore Holly. The world title was on the line too for some reason i think mostly as this was recorded in Manchester, WWE wanted to give something to the UK crowd it also could be why they beat the skin off each other because good grief you'd think it was their last ever match they're so stiff and even the punches they just hit each other why not i suppose if you need a comparison think back to what Bradshaw did with Finley at WrestleMania 24. It's war, you gotta give it to JBL because he sells this like he's in real trouble which is the art of a good heel and it could be Holly's best ever WWE appearance too and even Bradshaw lackey Orlando Jordan at ringside works. Of course, he takes some shots. It's a fight. The chair shot to Hardcore is most definitely not cool today, but it's a different world back then, and allowed JBL to win in controversial fashion. Still, if you're looking for a surprise find, you just found it. Number four, John Cena earned his spot. I mean, it is really obvious. It's not like management just changed their mind and pushed John Cena. The man is just improving constantly throughout 2004, and he ain't even Super Cena yet. He's a dude fighting for his position, hence why the fans love him. They can feel it. At WrestleMania 20, he does win the US title from The Big Show as well, so the audience could believe, and before long, he's basically the focal point of SmackDown. Thank goodness for that as well, because man, they needed it. John does feud with René Dupree, which you don't need to go back to, but his Best of 5 series with Booker T is actually very good. Felt like both guys needed each other, and you get that shock title loss to Carlito in October, which happens on TV. Man, it just keeps you guessing. Sadly, yes, that did then lead to that stabbing angle, courtesy of Hey Zeus. But in 2004, WWE was still obsessed with pushing this envelope, And before long, you can smell it in the air. John Cena is on the path to the top. His confidence grows too. Starts taking some chances. The true flinging to the top of the card is when he did move to Raw in 2005. But 2004 is also his year. Without him, the blue brand would have been painfully thin. Number three, Kenzo Suzuki. Now, we don't need anything else in that title other than his name because that sums it up. Kenzo Suzuki? I have no idea what WWE was thinking or what they wanted to do. but it could have started terribly as WWE did pitch this horrendously offensive gimmick that you can read about, but even that was canned at the last minute. I mean, when Vince McMahon knows it's bad. The issue there is they have no plan B for Suzuki, so he debuts on SmackDown and does nothing. Less than nothing. He randomly gets put with Bully Gunn for no reason, and then he was tagging with Rene Dupree. Why? Don't know. He just wasn't right for WWE's style and they were never going to let him be how he was in Japan because they got their playbook. Now, I do appreciate the creative team expanding the roster and keeping it fresh but you have to have an idea can't just roll people into the ring and nobody could have survived this either if he'd been taken off the show i don't think anybody would have noticed i don't get it at all number two the dead biker man you really do have to give it to the Undertaker when it comes to gimmicks because when he made his transition to the biker version there were actually elements of the Dead Man when he did flip back so he did it in reverse because at WrestleMania 20 he went full-on phenom as he took on Brother Kane, and man, I tell you, that was awesome. The teasing, the hints, the fans were excited. We timed this exactly right. However, on the 18th of March SmackDown, he was actually treading all of the boards, because even after dropping Paul Heyman with a tombstone, yes, he was still wearing the biker bandana. So sure, Paul Bearer was back by his side, but we weren't just forgetting the past. I think that's the best way to treat it, you merge it together. Heyman and Eddie sell that like magic too, so I suppose he has more power than we mortals realize. Or maybe it could be that the real-life Mark Calloway was still grabbing out his hair. It's one of the two. At the same time, The Undertaker would also wear the long trench coat when he was the biker and do the eye roll. So maybe there was always meant to be a wink and a nod. Number one, the rise of JBL. And how impressive it is. On this same 18th of March show, Bradshaw and Farouk lose to Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty when going for the tag titles. Beforehand, General Manager Paul Heyman had threatened to fire Ron Simmons if they were unsuccessful. And of course, Ron was mad. When Bradshaw then decided he wanted to stay on the show, Simmons was even more upset, so they did break up. That's a bit weird, especially because they had broken up before. By the 25th of March, Bradshaw had redesigned himself into JBL, and yes, went on about being a financial powerhouse in the world. It was quite jarring, because clearly this was meant to get him to the top, and by May, he was working with Eddie Guerrero for the WWE title. When you jump to June, he was the world champion, and while it took some time, gotta be honest here, it did work. He was one of the best heels in the company at the time, so look at that turnaround. Bradshaw took the pin in that tag team loss a few months prior. Now he was at the tippity top. If I were to make a guess based on this, I don't think WWE actually planned it in. Just took off like a bird. It's not like it started with a bang either, and instead JBL just figured it out, and then he put the time in. He had that belt for ages too, which nobody did back then. It just goes to show, you never know, and that rhymes, so it must be true. 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