10 Best WWE Matches of the Year 2004

The year 2004 in WWE brought a sense of change. Smaller superstars like Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit were given the ball to run with and the big main event level pushes came for superstars they had been building up, such as Randy Orton and John Cena.

While WWE did take a hit with the departures of Brock Lesnar and Goldberg, the company soldiered on with many great performances. Triple H had a notably pretty bad run in 2003 in wrestling entertainment terms, but made a fantastic comeback in 2004, delivering on some of the years finest performances.

The year 2004 wasn't the best year in the company history, but it did provide us with some of the best matches of all time, so here are what I feel are the top 10 WWE matches of 2004.

#10 Chris Jericho vs. Christian - WrestleMania XX

Former friends and WWE World Tag Team Champions Chris Jericho and Christian came to blows over Christian's growing jealousy of Jericho's new romance with Trish Stratus. This resulted in a match between the two at WrestleMania XX in 2004 and instantly became one of the best matches of that entire year.

The match delivered a nice mix of mat based and high flying moves. At one point Christian executed a dangerous DDT where Chris landed directly on his head. The match ended when Trish accidentally struck Jericho, allowing Christian to defeat him with a roll-up. This was followed by Trish turning heel on Jericho and siding with Christian.

Jericho and Christian would go onto have three more thrilling matches, at Backlash (Handicap match also with Trish), in a Steel Cage on RAW and a Ladder match at Unforgiven, but are ultimately just about beaten by this underrated gem.

#9 Randy Orton vs. Chris Benoit - SummerSlam

Some say this match came too soon for Randy Orton, while others thought it was the right time but poorly booked in the month that followed. Nevertheless, how you feel about Orton's title reign, this was a great match.

Even though Randy Orton had only debuted on WWE TV 2 years earlier, he had quickly risen to one of WWE's best performers by the time of this match, thanks to some rewarding performances with Shawn Michaels, RVD, Edge and of course, Mick Foley. Some lockups and submission holds took up the first few minutes before some fighting outside.

We got some great back and forth action, with a lot of chops and suplexes from Benoit and some great counters and top rope moves from Orton. As the end came, Benoit went up top for a Diving Headbutt, but it didn't connect as Orton put his knees up.

It looked pretty sick. Orton covers for two, but Benoit popped up with a crossface. Another counter came from Orton as he rolled through only for Benoit to grab the arm again, but then Orton hit the RKO out of nowhere and covered for the pinfall and his first Heavyweight Championship in WWE.

#8 Randy Orton vs. Ric Flair - Taboo Tuesday

When fans look at the best matches of Ric Flair's 2001 - 2008 return to WWE, everyone will talk about his last WWE match with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 24 as being the best. And while that may be true, it wasn't the only excellent match he had. In fact, he had several, with this one being the second best of the bunch.

This Steel Cage match, voted for by the fans at Taboo Tuesday, was one of the more shorter pay-per-view main events in history, at just 10 and a half minutes, but they certainly made the most of every second.

After some back and forth chops and punches from both men, Flair whipped Orton hard into the steel cage, which busted Orton open, after just 2 minutes. As Flair continued to beat Orton, he would reverse and send Flair into steel, making him bleed too.

After some classic Ric Flair bumps and cage escape attempts, Flair went for a chair shot to the head of Orton, but Orton ducked that and nailed the RKO for the pinfall. Despite Flair being heel and with Evolution and Orton being the groups opposing babyface threat, the two still shook hands and hugged after the match.

This surprisingly great match is absolutely worth 10 minutes of your time.

#7 Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels - Bad Blood

Triple H and Shawn Michaels had been feuding on and off for 2 years by this point and this was the final match of it, although they would later have another pay-per-view match at Taboo Tuesday that wasn't technically apart of the feud.

This was the end and what better way to go out then the best way to end a bloodthirsty feud back in 2004, but Hell in A Cell. This match actually received a rather mixed response when it first happened, but I like to look back at it as a classic.

They brawled for a while at the beginning. The Cell was a weapon was introduced early, as was a chair. Triple H smacked Shawn with the steel steps, busting him wide open. Triple H was in control of the bloody HBK for a few minutes, using various trademark moves as well as the use of the Cell and chair, before Shawn battled back after countering a Pedigree attempt. Triple H was then busted wide open after a chair shot.

Shawn Michaels pulled a ladder out from under the ring and eventually a table to putting Triple H through it after diving off the top with an elbow for a two count.

Shawn then hit a Sweet Chin Music for another close two count. Triple H then hit two consecutive Pedigree's to win this one at just over 47 minutes.

#6 Eddie Guerrero vs. John Bradshaw Layfield - Judgement Day

Wrestling wise, this will not be looked at as one of the all-time greats, however, it will always be remembered as an amazing yet horrifying watch, due to the amount of blood lost by both men, particularly the WWE Champion, Eddie Guerrero.

Very physical to get things started as charged at JBL, taking him to the outside and tossing him into the barricade, ring post, and announcers table. Eddie is out for revenge, brutalizing Bradshaw as he chocked him with a cable and continued to hammer him back in the ring.

JBL eventually fought back and the two went back and forth for a while with a lot of punches, more out of the ring play with the ring posts and tables and submissions then back in the ring.

Now with the referee knocked down, they went back out of the ring again, this time it brought us to the matches most memorable spot as Bradshaw nearly crushed Eddie's head with a chair, bending the chair in the process.

Eddie is covered in blood, so much so that you can barely see any skin color anywhere on him. JBL then punched him some more and hit him with the steel steps. I don't think anyone has ever bled this badly before in WWE.

JBL hit Eddie with a Clothesline From Hell for a 2 count, and as he dragged him around the ring, nearly the entire ring mat is covered in Eddie's blood. After a failed Frog splash, JBL brings a chair and the WWE title in the ring but was met with a low blow. Eddie then hit Bradshaw with the title, causing a disqualification.

Post-match, Eddie beats JBL senseless with a chair, causing Bradshaw to bleed heavily, but nowhere near as much as Eddie did. Eddie lost so much blood here that he went into shock after the match backstage.

#5 Triple H vs. Chris Benoit - RAW, July 2

For obvious reasons, this match hasn't been talked about in a long time. But even before 2007, I think this match was surprisingly overlooked. The first Iron Man match in WWE RAW history, Triple H and World Champion Chris Benoit took each other to the limit.

Going into this one, I think a lot of people thought Triple H would get it. thought Chris Benoit could beat both Shawn Michaels and Triple H in the main event of Wrestlemania XX or win the rematch at Backlash.

Then when he defended the title one-on-one with Triple H at Vengeance, most also thought Benoit would drop the title to him then too, but he still came out on top. So this Iron Man happened 2 weeks later, and everyone really thought this was it for the Rabid Wolverine.

This was a hard-hitting match, in which both worked really hard to pull off. This match really brought out Triple H's technical side, which was only really ever shown in matches with Benoit and Chris Jericho.

Triple H took a 3-1 lead for most of the match, before Benoit overcame interference from Batista and Ric Flair, to make a strong comeback. At the 3-3 mark, Benoit obtained his fourth and winning fall with a little help from Eugene.

Benoit lost the World Championship to Randy Orton a few weeks later, but it was matches like this that proved he should have been Champion even longer or at least had more reigns before he died.

#4 Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit - Backlash

Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Chris Benoit had one of the great matches in WrestleMania history the month prior to this at WrestleMania 20. Could they pull it off again, and so soon?

As it turns out, yes! We had suplex after suplex, excellent one-on-one and then three-way exchanges, superkicks, headbutts, high flying moves, and technical offense. The match was pretty different to the first, especially in areas such as blood, where fans seemed to love the blood lost from all three men at Mania, we didn't get any of that here. This was pure skill.

Dare I say that this is probably the best WrestleMania rematch of all time.

I would highly consider this and the WrestleMania triple Threat to perhaps be the two best Triple Threat matches of all time. As said by Triple H on RAW, this match proved that Chris Benoit wasn't a fluke.

#3 Randy Orton vs. Cactus Jack - Backlash

This is the match that made Randy Orton a star.

This was pretty wild. A bloody and violent warfare, Mick Foley could not have done any more to put Orton over. Foley tossed Orton off the stage through some tables, hit a vicious elbow drop and the involvement of barbwire ensured this match truly had it all.

Perhaps the most memorable spot came when Foley/Jack pulled out a bag that turned out to be thumbtacks. He poured them out all over the ring. Orton charged in, went for an RKO, but Jack countered, dropping Orton back first onto the tacks, with the tacks sticking onto his back.

The finish would see Orton hitting Foley onto "Barbie" for the three-count. Simply an outstanding match. Mick Foley has since called this match one of the best and most favorite matches of his career and the best match he had for many years.

#2 Brock Lesnar vs. Eddie Guerrero - No Way Out

This was incredible. One of the most emotional and well-deserved victories ever in WWE, and despite the very big size difference, it was as competitive as being competitive can be.

Brock Lesnar kicked it off with his usual domination, throwing Eddie around and hitting some suplexes. Lensar continued to dominate until Eddie fought back with punches and kicks until Lesnar himself got a little bloody. We got a lot of counters and submission holds from both men.

Lesnar then hit Eddie with the F-5, only for the referee to be knocked down to. Goldberg entered the ring and Speared Lesnar. Eddie regained consciousness and attacked Lesnar with the WWE title, but his reversed into an F-5, only for that to be revered into a tornado DDT onto the WWE Championship belt. Eddie then hit the Frogsplash for perhaps the most emotional win in WWE history.

#1 Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit - WrestleMania XX

This is a match that, for obvious reasons, isn't talked about very often today, but it is easily the best match of 2004, one of the best WrestleMania matches of all time and the best Triple Threat match ever.

Michaels, HHH and Chris Benoit told an amazing story here. Could Benoit win the big one? Would the two-year long feud between Michaels and The Game finally end? These led to broken tables, unlikely team-ups, suplex after a suplex, excellent one-on-one and then three-way exchanges, superkicks, headbutts, high flying maneuvers, technical offense and a whole lot of blood. No one needed to help carry the other into a great performance, all three men earned their PWI Match of The Year award.

The trio would go on to have a rematch the following month at Backlash, which was almost as fantastic as this, but just a little short of it.