No Way Out 2004
Promotion	World Wrestling Entertainment
Brand(s)	SmackDown!
Date	February 15 2004
City	San Francisco, California
Venue	Cow Palace
Attendance	11,000
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous Royal Rumble 2004 Next → WrestleMania XX

No Way Out 2004 was the fifth annual (and sixth overall) No Way Out pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by professional wrestling company World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and starring their SmackDown! brand. It took place on February 15 2004 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California.^[1] The official theme song was "Crossing Borders" by Rey Mysterio.^[2] This was also the first No Way Out to be brand exclusive, to the SmackDown! brand.

The main event was between Brock Lesnar and Eddie Guerrero for the WWE Championship, as Guerrero won after hitting a Frog Splash. The main match in the undercard was between Kurt Angle, the Big Show, and John Cena in a triple threat match for a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania XX, as Angle won after forcing Cena to submit with the ankle Lock.

Report

Background

After winning a 15-man Royal Rumble match on the January 29, 2004 episode of SmackDown!, Eddie Guerrero earned a WWE Championship match at No Way Out against the WWE Champion, Brock Lesnar.^[3][4] Outside of the Guerrero number one contender storyline, the WWE Champion, Brock Lesnar, was involved in a feud with RAW's Goldberg.^[5] The Lesnar/Goldberg feud began at the 2004 Royal Rumble, after Lesnar successfully defended his WWE Championship against Hardcore Holly, Lesnar would interfere in the Royal Rumble match attacking and eliminating Goldberg.^[5][6] Then afterwards, on the January 262007 episode of RAW, Goldberg would go on to defeat Jonathan Coachman, and after the match he would tell WWE cameras that Lesnar was "next."^[7][8] Lesnar would respond by calling Goldberg a "wannabe" Brock Lesnar, on the January 29 2007 episode of SmackDown!.^[3][9] The following week on RAW, Steve Austin would give Goldberg a front row ticket for No Way Out.^[10][11] That Thursday on SmackDown!, and the final SmackDown! before No Way Out, the Guerrero/Lesnar feud continued as Michael Cole hosted an interview with Guerrero, but Lesnar would intervene and attack Guerrero. The fight continued until Lesnar retreated the ring, Guerrero would then dance around the ring with Lesnar's WWE Championship belt.^[4]Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).

Event

Before the event went live on pay-per-view, Tajiri, Sakoda, and Akio defeated Ultimo Dragon, Billy Kidman, and Paul London in a Sunday Night HEAT six-man tag team match.^[12] The first match that aired was the tag team encounter of Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty against the Basham Brothers and Shaniqua in a two on three, mixed Handicap match for the WWE Tag Team Championship.^[12][13] After back and forth action between the two teams, Hotty attempted to seal the victory with the Worm, but failed when he was clotheslined by Shaniqua. Soon afterwards Shaniqua had control over her opponents until she tagged in the Bashams, when they were clotheslined over the top rope by Hotty. The turn of events allowed Rikishi to perform the Samoan Drop, followed by the Rump Shaker and pin on Shaniqua, thus Hotty and Rikishi retaining the WWE Tag Team Championship.^[13][14][15] Next was a Blindfold Match against boyfriend, Jamie Noble, and girlfriend, Nidia.^[12][16] In a comical match, where Noble had to wear a blindfold, Nidia performed many antics on her boyfriend. After much humiliation by his girlfriend, Noble finally gets a hold of Nidia, but is tripped onto the second rope. However Noble recuperates and again gains a hold of Nidia and applies the Paydirt, forcing Nidia to submit.^{[12][13][16][15]}

The third match of the night was a tag-team match where The World's Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas) defeated The APA (Bradshaw and Faarooq).^[12][15] After a back and forth match, Bradshaw had just delivered a Clothesline from Hell to Haas, but was superkicked and pinned by Benjamin.^[16][14][15] After the match, Goldberg was seen arriving to the arena and being escorted to his seat by arena security. In the ring, Paul Heyman cut a promo on how SmackDown! was the better brand. He was then joined by Brock Lesnar as he promoted the main event match and told everyone how Goldberg was scared of attacking Lesnar. He would proceed to tell Goldberg "sit there and be the little bitch you are", Goldberg would not hesitate and would jump over the barricade into the ring where Lesnar speared Goldberg, but Goldberg would recuperate and perform his Jackhammer slam before being escorted out of the arena by security.^[17][18] Next was a singles bout, where Hardcore Holly defeated Rhyno. In a brawling match, Holly would be gored out of the ring, but he would recuperate and perform the Alabama slam and pin Rhyno.^{[13][15][16][17][18]}

Aftermath

After winning the WWE Championship, Eddie Guerrero would go on to retain the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XX, defeating the number one contender, Kurt Angle.^[19] Four months after this event, at the Great American Bash, Eddie Guerrero would go on to lose his WWE Championship to John "Bradshaw" Layfield.^[20] Guerrero would fail to recapture the title in a steel cage match on an episode of SmackDown! on July 16 2004, against JBL.^[21]

During the Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown! Eddie Guerrero Tribute Shows, this event was the main highlight of Eddie Guerrero's career, as it was the event where he won his only World Championship.^[22][23] This event was the first SmackDown! exclusive, branded pay-per-view; at the same event three years later, the event would be noted as the final branded pay-per-view before all pay-per-views became tri-branded in 2007.^[24]

Results

• Sunday Night HEAT match: Tajiri, Akio, and Sakoda defeated Billy Kidman, Paul London, and Ultimo Dragon (5:35)^[15]
  • Tajiri pinned Dragon after a Powerslam from Sakoda.
• Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty defeated The Basham Brothers (Doug and Danny) and Shaniqua in a Mixed Handicap Match to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship (8:16)
  • Rikishi pinned Shaniqua after a Rump Shaker.
• Jamie Noble defeated Nidia in a Boyfriend vs. Girlfriend Blindfold Match (4:23)
  • Noble forced Nidia to submit with the Paydirt.
  • Noble was blindfolded throughout the match because Nidia, his ex-girlfriend, suffered from blindness and Noble exploited that in earlier storylines.
• The World's Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas) defeated The APA (Bradshaw and Faarooq) (7:21)
  • Benjamin pinned Bradshaw after a superkick.
• Hardcore Holly defeated Rhyno (9:54)
  • Holly pinned Rhyno after an Alabama Slam.
• Chavo Guerrero (w/Chavo Guerrero, Sr.) defeated Rey Mysterio (w/Jorge Páez) to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship (17:21)
  • Guerrero pinned Mysterio with a roll-up after Chavo Sr. pushed Mysterio off the top rope.
• Kurt Angle defeated The Big Show and John Cena in a Triple Threat match (12:18)
  • Angle forced Cena to submit with the Ankle Lock to earn a shot at the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XX.
• Eddie Guerrero defeated Brock Lesnar to win the WWE Championship (30:07)
  • Eddie pinned Lesnar after a Frog Splash.
  • Goldberg, who was in the front row seat earlier, interfered late in the match by spearing Lesnar.

References

See Also

• WWE No Way Out

External Links

• Official No Way Out 2004 Website