WWE WrestleMania XX
Date: April 4th, 2004
Brand: Dual-Branded
Location: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Attendance: 54,251
PRE-SHOW; Women’s World Tag Team Championships: Riot Girlz (Lita and Becky Knox) def. Rain Check (Rain and Mickie James) (c) , Tokyo Sweethearts (Manami Toyota and Mima Shimoda), and Kaientai-J (Emi Motokawa and Etsuko Mita)
The new team of the Riot Girlz, consisting of seasoned wrestler Lita and Irish Rookie straight out of OVW Becky Knox, they were able to get wins over 3 more experienced teams, and claim the titles.
PRE-SHOW; WWE Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: Warrior's Way (Low Ki and Amazing Red) def. Masato Yoshino and Naruki Doi
The Warrior's Way team has taken over the SmackDown brand over the year, and with this team, with the combined efforts of martial arts and high-flying acrobatics, would them aim their sights to the WWE Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles, and gain a surprising victory over the experienced team from Dragon Gate.
WWE United States Championship: Christian Cage (w/Travis Tomko) def. Kurt Angle (c)
The US Title would change hands surprisingly as Christian would get the upper hand mentally on Angle, Angle, stressed out by the fact he's going to be in the main event, is met with Christian's antics and the strength and menace of his "Insurance Policy" Travis Tomko.
WWE Junior Heavyweight Championship: CIMA def. Matt Hardy Version 1 (c)
Before the match, Matt Hardy, flocked by the rest of V-1, Maven Huffman and Matt Cappotelli, would go on a rant about the recent influx of Dragon Gate talent, saying that these imports can't just waltz their way into the biggest wrestling company in the world and take titles away from the hard-working talent that are there all the time, but CIMA shuts V1 up and takes his Junior Heavyweight title off of him in the process.
World Tag Team Championships; Street Fight: The Church of Dudley (“Reverend” D-Von and “Pastor” Sean O’Haire) (c) def. B-B-B (Buff Bagwell and Robert Conway)
The street fight is presented as brutal and fun to watch as the two teams batter each other with everything but the kitchen sink, but in the very end, The church rules on for another day as Tag Team champions.
Abyss def. Kane
Teased for months was a secret, behind closed doors talent trade that Raw GM Eric Bischoff (which due to a clause in his contract was able to gain back power from Stone Cold Steve Austin) and SmackDown GM Paul Heyman made starting at the Royal Rumble. SmackDown was able to get their hands on Christian Cage and it lead to him dethroning US champ Kurt Angle, but Bischoff has remained quiet on who he got his hands on, but as of late, Intercontinental champ Kane has been getting subliminal messages telling him that his end is near, and at Mania, it would all come together as Abyss would appear on the red brand for the first time ever and in a good match, Abyss would get the victory.
WWE Tag Team Championships/GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi (c) def. The World’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin)
A dream match to many, and it delivered. The match was made in NOAH when Kurt Angle went there for their Tokyo Dome show at the beginning of the year and said that Two of NOAH's best talents can come challenge the "Real" best wrestlers in the world in Angle and his team, and since defeating La Resistance for both sets of Tag titles in both WWE and NOAH, they were now in place to challenge these Japanese legends, and in a match that is must-see, Misawa and Kobashi would retain the titles.
WWE Women’s World Championship: Gail Kim def. Victoria Varon (c)
Gail Kim was the winner of the women's Royal Rumble, and was immediately slated to face whoever was women's champion, on Raw would gain a few wins, and unfortunately was able to lose to Emi Motokawa due to a massive distraction from Nora Holly, who has her sights on Victoria for reasons that are still not fully explained, but the match is good and it leads to Gail Kim becoming a 2 time women's champion, with the indirect help from Nora Holly, which after the match would show up, blindside Victoria, and then use scissors and cut off some of her hair.
GHC Heavyweight Championship: Shawn Michaels def. Kensuke Sasaki (c)
Since the loss to Triple H at Unforgiven last year, and the nWo breaking up following a Loser Leaves Town match on Raw for Scott Hall, who would be the man fully holding the group together, HBK would disappear from WWE, but then starting in December, making appearances at NOAH shows and Sweet Chin Music'ing the heads off of anyone who stepped in his way, at the Tokyo Dome show at the beginning of the year, he'd make a challenge to current GHC Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki, who had previously had runs in WWE before, wanting to have a match for his title in a WWE environment, but not just on any show, he wanted to have it at WrestleMania. Sasaki would agree to this challenge and in a drama-filled, hard hitting contest, Shawn would steal the victory and take the GHC Heavyweight title away from Sasaki.
World Heavyweight Championship: No Disqualification Match: Scott Steiner def. Triple H (c) (w/Ric Flair, Batista, and Randy Orton)
Since losing the World Heavyweight title to Triple H at Survivor Series the previous year thanks to the help of Hunter's group of "Renegades", Steiner would make HHH's life a living hell until he was able to get another title shot, this meant he targeted everyone on the roster that even was a comparable challenge to him, and HHH, having enough of the constant torment, would make the match official for WrestleMania. Even with the help of The Renegades, HHH would come short and Steiner would gain the title back.
WWE Championship: Fatal 4 Way: Eddie Guerrero def. AJ Styles (c), Kurt Angle, and John Cena
The Main Event is a culmination of months worth of interconnected feuds combining into one, AJ Styles' continued reign at the top after winning the WWE title from Kurt Angle at SummerSlam the previous year, Angle and Cena up at each other's throats, and Eddie Guerrero gaining a ton of momentum leading to a Royal Rumble victory, what was originally planned to be a 1v1 match between Styles and Guerrero would turn into Angle and Cena also getting in the mix as both were each other's throats through the later quarter of the previous year, and with that, Heyman would make a #1 Contender's Match official for No Way Out with the winner getting added to the match, John Cena would win that match defeating Rene Dupree, with Angle defending the US title later in the night and then complaining about not getting the WWE title opportunity, but Heyman then makes a deal that he will add him to the main event if he was able to defend the US title on the same night. Angle, beaten down but still rearing to go, would make attempts to gain the title back but Cena, Styles, and Guerrero would stop him from making his dreams come true, and in a dramatic finish seeing multiple finishers hit at once, Guerrero using a cheap tactic, loosening his boot and getting out of Angle's signature Ankle lock, would see him gaining the win, and also the WWE title. The show ends with Guerrero celebrating as the WWE locker room empties and celebrates with him.
2004 Hall of Fame Inductions
Pat Patterson
The Fabulous Moolah
"High Chief" Peter Maivia
"The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase
Sgt. Slaughter
The Iron Sheik
Akira Hokuto
