IWE RR 04

Royal Rumble (2004) was the seventeenth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by International Wrestling Entertainment (IWE). It took place on January 25, 2004 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The main event was the Royal Rumble Match, which Kevin Hunter won by last eliminating The Big Marc to win the match. Kevin Hunter broke the longevity record last held by Bob Backlund staying in the match for just over one hour. Featured matches on the undercard included a Last Man Standing Match between Triple K and Ryan Barnhart for the World Heavyweight Championship and Cam Dana versus Steven Murnion for the IWE Championship.

BackgroundEdit

The event featured six professional wrestling matches with outcomes predetermined by IWE script writers. The matches featured wrestlers portraying their characters in planned storylines that took place before, during and after the event. All wrestlers were from either one of the IWE's brands – Fusion or Meltdown – the two storyline divisions in which IWE assigned its employees.

The buildup to the Royal Rumble match started on January 1, 2004 edition of Fusion, when Dustin Simpson interrupted a promo of the Fusion General Manager Paul Heyman about Tribute to the Troops in Iraq event. This angered Heyman and Heyman forced Simpson to compete in a Handicap match with a partner and the two needed to win the match to gain entry in the Royal Rumble match. Simpson's partner was revealed to be Kevin Hunter and the two defeated Full Blooded Italians in a Handicap match to qualify for the Royal Rumble match. As a result, all the three members of Full Blooded Italians lost their spots in the Royal Rumble match. If Simpson and Hunter would have lost, neither would have been able to participate in the match. After the match, Matt Borske announced that he would participate in the Royal Rumble match and would win it. Later that night, Hunter insulted Heyman and Heyman forced Hunter to compete at the #1 spot in the Royal Rumble. On January 5 edition of Meltdown, Chris LeGreca announced that he was going to win the Royal Rumble but was confronted by Steve Britz, who claimed that he would eliminate Chris LeGreca from the match and win the match. On January 8 edition of Fusion, Hunter defeated Full Blooded Italians in a Handicap Mini Royal Rumble to retain his spot in the Royal Rumble. On January 12 edition of Meltdown, Coldberg defeated Matt Hooper and announced that he would participate in the Royal Rumble match. On January 15 edition of Fusion, several qualifying matches were held for the Royal Rumble, including a battle royal between Full Blooded Italians, which Niczio won. On January 19 edition of Meltdown, Coldberg, Kevin McAlmond, Kyle Van Johnson, Steve Britz, Steven Larson and Kris McGowan won matches to qualify for a Battle Royal to determine the #30 entrant of the Royal Rumble match. Coldberg won the Battle Royal and earned the #30 spot in the Royal Rumble.

Qualification MatchesEdit

• Dustin Simpson and Kevin Hunter defeated Nic, Chuck and Johnny in a Handicap Match on Fusion!. If Simpson and Hunter would have lost, neither would have been able to enter the Rumble.
• Park defeated Billy on Fusion!
• John Goff defeated Jimmy and Timmy in a Triple Threat Match on Fusion!
• Matt Hooper defeated Jorgan on Velocity
• Keith defeated Scotty on Fusion!
• Nick defeated Shane on Velocity
• The World's Greatest Tag Team (Junior Remeriz and Jared Keller defeated Zack Nuss and Josh Nuss Fusion!
• Ricky defeated Tommy Brown Sunday Night Heat
• Nic defeated Chuck and Johnny in a Triple Threat Match on Fusion!
  • In the angle, all three were supposed to be in the Rumble until they failed to beat Dustin Simpson and Kevin Hunter in a Handicap match, thus Paul Heyman would only allow one of them to enter.

EventEdit

AftermathEdit

IWE Royal Rumble (2004) ResultsEdit

Royal Rumble Match Entrants and EliminationsEdit