Taboo Tuesday (2004)

Infobox Wrestling event
name=Taboo Tuesday (2004)


promotion=World Wrestling Entertainment
brand=Raw
date=October 19, 2004 [cite web|url=http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2004/2004_10_05.jsp|title=World Wresting Entertainment® Introduces New Interactive RAW® Branded Pay-Per-View To Air on Tuesday, October 19, 2004|accessdate=2008-08-08|date=2004-10-05|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment Corporation]
venue=Bradley Center
city=Milwaukee, Wisconsin
attendance=3,500cite web|url=http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wwf/taboo.html#2004|title=WWE Taboo Tuesday|accessdate=2008-01-19|publisher=Pro Wrestling History]
lastevent=No Mercy (2004)
nextevent=Survivor Series (2004)
event=Cyber Sunday
lastevent2="First"
nextevent2=Taboo Tuesday (2005)

Taboo Tuesday (2004) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which took place on October 19, 2004 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was the first annual Taboo Tuesday event. Eight professional wrestling matches, performances with pre-determined outcomes between wrestlers with fictional personalities that are portrayed as real, were featured on the event's card. The buildup to the matches and the scenarios that took place before, during, and after the event were planned by WWE's script writers. The event starred wrestlers from the Raw brand: a storyline expansion of the promotion where employees are assigned to a wrestling brand under the WWE banner. [cite web|first=Gemma|last=Tarlach|url=http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=266990|title=Choose their punisher|accessdate=2008-08-08|date=2004-10-17|work=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel] This event marked the first time in which the fans were given the chance to vote on stipulations for the matches. The voting for this event started on October 18, 2004 and ended during the event.

The main event was a steel cage match, a match fought within a cage formed by placing four sheets of mesh metal around, in, or against the edges of the wrestling ring. Randy Orton defeated Ric Flair by pinfall. Two featured bouts were featured on the undercard. In respective standard wrestling match, World Heavyweight Champion Triple H defeated Shawn Michaels to retain his title and Gene Snitsky defeated Kane in a Weapon of Choice match, a match in which the use of foreign objects is illegal under the standard rules of professional wrestling

Including the scripted buildup, the 2004 Taboo Tuesday event grossed over $215,000 ticket sales from an attendance of 3,500. The event received 174,000 pay-per-view buys. This event helped WWE's pay-per-view revenue increase by $6.2 million from the previous year. When the event was released on DVD, it reached a peak position of seventh on "Billboard's" DVD Sales Chart.

Background

Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card beforehand. These matches were planned with predetermined outcomes by WWE's creative staff and featured wrestlers playing a character for the entertainment of the audience. The buildup to these matches and the scenarios that took place before, during, and after the event were also planned by WWE's script writers. The event featured wrestlers and other talent from WWE's brand, a storyline expansion of the promotion where employees are assigned to wrestling brands under the WWE banner. Wrestlers portrayed either a villainous or fan favorite gimmick, as they followed a series of events which generally built tension, leading to a wrestling match. The name of a wrestler's character was not always the person's birth name, as wrestlers often used a stage name to portray their character.

The main rivalry written into Taboo Tuesday was fought in a steel cage match between Randy Orton and Ric Flair (Richard Fliehr), a match where the ring would be enclosed by a steel cage. On the September 27 edition of "Raw", one of WWE's primary television programs, Orton was eligible to face Triple H (Paul Levesque) at Taboo Tuesday for the World Heavyweight Championship, if he were able to win a match against Batista (David Bautista, Jr.), in which he did not win. The match, however, saw interference by Ric Flair. This lead to Orton faulting Flair for his actions.cite web|url= http://pwwew.net/tv/raw/040927.htm|title=Flair for the Dramatic|accessdate=2008-01-18|date=2004-09-27|publisher=PWWEW.net] cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/040927.html|title=RAW results - September 27, 2004|accessdate=2008-01-18|publisher=Online World of Wrestling] Orton commented on every accomplishment Flair has made and criticized him for calling Triple H the greatest wrestler of all. Flair retaliated Orton's comments, as he stated that individuals like Shawn Michaels (Michael Hickenbottom) and Mick Foley are not legends, therefore Orton isn't a Legend Killer,cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/041004.html|title=RAW results - October 4, 2004|accessdate=2008-01-19|publisher=Online World of Wrestling] as to Orton's previous feuds with Michaels and Foley in a "Legend versus Legend Killer" match. Flair also stated that he and Orton would have a match at Taboo Tuesday and the fans would have the opportunity to choose what type of match they face in. The choice of the matches were a steel cage match, falls count anywhere match, or a submission match.

One of the featured preliminary matches was contested for the World Heavyweight Championship, in which Triple H defended the title against Shawn Michaels. At Unforgiven, Triple H defeated Randy Orton to capture the World Heavyweight Championship. [cite web|first=Chris|last=Sokol|url= http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/PPVReports/2004/09/13/788802.html|title=Unforgiven a good night for HHH|accessdate=2008-01-15|date=2004-09-13|publisher=Canadian Online Explorer|work=SLAM! Sports] The following night on "Raw", Triple H had a celebration thrown in his honor, complete with women, confetti, streamers and a giant cake. Orton, however, sought revenge, as he lashed out at all three Evolution members (Triple H, Batista, and Ric Flair), a group of wrestlers, as he came out of the giant cake, which was placed in the center of the ring, and humiliated the group.cite web|url=http://pwwew.net/tv/raw/040913.htm|title=Surprise Party| accessdate=2008-01-18|date=2004-09-13|publisher=PWWEW.net] On the October 4, 2004 edition of "Raw", three candidates were named as potential contenders for Triple H's World Heavyweight Championship at Taboo Tuesday; Chris Benoit and Edge (Adam Copeland) were revealed as two of the candidates.cite web|url= http://pwwew.net/tv/raw/041004.htm|title=Bright Lights, Big Event| accessdate=2008-01-18|date=2004-10-04|publisher=PWWEW.net] Shawn Michaels, however, competed in a qualifying match, which it saw him defeat Christian (Jason Reso), to become the third candidate.cite web|url= http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/041004.html|title=RAW results - October 4, 2004|accessdate=2008-01-18|date= 2004-10-04|publisher=Online World of Wrestling] On the October 18 edition of "Raw", a Triple Threat match, a standard wrestling match involving three wrestlers, was scheduled between Michaels, Benoit and Edge, in which Edge won after he pinned Benoit by using the ropes for leverage.cite web|url=http://pwwew.net/tv/raw/041018.htm|title=Get up and Vote|accessdate=2008-01-18|date=2004-10-18|publisher=PWWEW.net] During the match, Michaels legitimately injured his knee, [cite web|url=http://onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/041018.html|title=RAW results - October 18, 2004|accessdate=2008-01-21|publisher=Online World of Wrestling] which was later revealed that he tore his meniscus. [harv|Michaels|Feigenbaum|2005|p=333] [cite web|first=TJ|last=Madigan|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2004/10/23/pf-682323.html|title=This Taboo is broken|accessdate=2008-08-08|date=2004-10-23|publisher=Canadian Online Explorer|work=SLAM! Sports]

The other featured preliminary match was between Kane (Glen Jacobs) and Gene Snitsky. At Unforgiven, Shawn Michaels defeated Kane in a no disqualification match, a match where neither wrestler can be disqualified, allowing for weapons and outside interference. [cite web|url=http://www.pwwew.net/ppv/wwf/september/2004.htm|title=Unforgiven 2004 Results|accessdate=2008-07-26|publisher=PWWEW.net] The next night on "Raw", Kane demanded that authority figure Eric Bischoff, a portrayed match maker and rules enforcer, give him a rematch against Michaels, but Bischoff informed Kane that Michaels was scheduled to appear in Chris Jericho's (Christopher Irvine) "The Highlight Reel", but booked Kane in a no disqualification match against another opponent. In the match, Kane faced off against Gene Snistky. During the match, Kane's wife, Lita (Amy Dumas), who accompanied Kane to the match, entered the ring, which led to Kane accidentally falling on top of her, thus resulting in the match to come to an end. Trainers and Emergency medical technician's rushed to the scene and took Lita away in an ambulance for medical attention. [cite web|url=http://onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/040913.html|title=RAW results - September 13, 2004|accessdate=2008-07-26|publisher=Online World of Wrestling] The following week, Kane was informed by doctors that Lita suffered a staged miscarriage, following the events of the week before. [cite web|url=http://pwwew.net/tv/raw/040920.htm|title=Emotional Night|accessdate=2008-07-26|date=2004-09-20|publisher=PWWEW.net] [cite web|url=http://onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/040920.html|title=RAW results - September 20, 2004|accessdate=2008-07-26|publisher=Online World of Wrestling] On the September 27 edition of "Raw", during an interview with Todd Grisham, Kane informed Grisham that he sought revenge against Snitsky for his actions, in which Snitsky hit Kane with a steel chair, causing Kane to fall on Lita. The following week, Lita gave her first interview since the miscarriage and revealed she joined forces with Kane in order to take revenge on Snitsky. The same night, Snitsky was interviewed by Raw commentator Jim Ross and told Ross that the death of Kane and Lita's unborn child wasn't his fault. Kane interrupted the interview and entered the ring. Snitsky, however, attacked Kane with a lead pipe, resulting in Kane being scripted to bleed from the forehead. After the attack, Eric Bischof scheduled a Weapon of Choice match, in which the use of foreign objects is illegal under the standard rules of professional wrestling, where the fans would be given the opportunity to choose the weapon for the match.

Event

Before the event went live on pay-per-view, Sgt. Slaughter (Robert Remus) defeated Muhammad Hassan (Mark Copani) (w/Daivari) in a dark match.

Preliminary matches

The first televised match was between Chris Jericho versus Shelton Benjamin, who had won the vote with 37% for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. The match started off with Jericho performing a kick that struck the back of Benjamin's head. This was followed by Jericho on the top ropes, which was countered when Benjamin jumped on the ropes and performed a superplex on Jericho. Later in the match, Jericho performed variety of signature move attempts, such as grabbing Benjamin's head and driving his face into the mat and a springboard of the middle rope to perform a backflip, but Benjamin countered them. The match came to an end when Benjamin performed a T-Bone Suplex on Jericho and gaining the pinfall victory and becoming the new Intercontinental Champion.cite web|first=Chris|last=Sokol|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/PPVReports/2004/10/20/788799.html|title=Nothing Taboo at Tuesday PPV|accessdate=2008-07-25|date=2004-10-20|publisher=Canadian Online Explorer|work=SLAM! Sports] cite web|url=http://www.hoffco-inc.com/wwe/ppv/ppv/tt04.html|title=Taboo Tuesday 2004 Results|accessdate=2008-07-25|publisher=Hoffco]

The voting results for Triple H's opponent for the World Heavyweight Championship were then revealed, with Shawn Michaels winning. The next match was a Fulfill Your Fantasy Battle Royal match for the WWE Women's Championship between Molly Holly (Nora Greenwald), Stacy Keibler, Victoria (Lisa Marie Varon), Gail Kim, Jazz (Carlene Begnaud), Nidia (Nidia Guenard), and Trish Stratus (Patricia Stratigias), an elimination style match where the last person in the ring is the winner. The first to be eliminated was Nidia, which was followed by by Jazz being eliminated by Victoria. Kim performed a hurricanrana on Victoria, a move that is executed by jumping forward and straddling on a standing opponent's shoulders, but Victoria countered the move as she threw Kim out of the ring. Victoria was eliminated afterwards by both Stratus and Molly. Stratus and Molly then doubled teamed Keibler, which led to Molly eliminating Keibler from the match. Stratus then eliminated Molly, as she pushed her through the ropes and thus retaining the WWE Women's Championship.

The third match was between Gene Snitsky and Kane (w/Lita). The match was a Weapons of Choice match, which gained 41% of the vote. The match began with Kane, as he grabbed a chain and used it against Snitsky's head. Snitsky regained the momentum by grabbing the chain and swinging the chain onto Kane's head and proceeding to choke Kane with it. Back and forth action took place; the match, however, came to an end when Snitsky came off of the second rope onto a steel chair that was wrapped around Kane's neck and pinned him for the win.

The next match was between Eric Bischoff and Eugene (Nick Dinsmore) in a "Choose the Loser's Fate". The match saw Eugene defeat Bischoff, after Eugene dropped his legs across Bischoff's chest to get the pinfall victory. After the match, the audience voted that Bischoff get his head shaved off. Jonathan Coachman, however, announced that the audience instead voted "Loser is Winners Servant", in which he and Bischoff would be Eugene's servants for five minutes. Vince McMahon came out and reversed the stipulation and announced that Bischoff would get his head shaved. McMahon warned that if Bischoff didn't go through it, he would get fired. Eugene shaved Bischoff's hair and Coachman was forced to wear a dress for messing up the outcome of the match.

The fifth match was for the World Tag Team Championships between La Résistance (Sylvain Grenier and Robért Conway [Rob Conway] ) against Edge and Chris Benoit, the two individuals who were not chosen to face Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship.cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/041011.html|title=RAW results - October 11, 2004|accessdate=2008-01-19|publisher=Online World of Wrestling] There was back and forth action between the two teams, as all the superstars were able to participate in the match. Edge abandoned Benoit during the match, which forced Benoit to wrestle both members of La Résistance by himself. Benoit fought off, as he was able to get the upper hand over Grenier. The match concluded with Benoit winning the World Tag Team Championships, after he locked his hands together and pulled Conway's face and pulling his neck backwards, a move which Benoit calls the "Crippler Crossface", making Conway to submit.

Main event matches

The next match was between Christy Hemme and Carmella DeCesare. The match was a Lingerie Pillow Fight, which gained 57% of the vote. During this match Hemme and DeCesare hit each other with pillows while wearing lingerie. The match ended when Hemme covered DeCesare to win the match via pinfall. The seventh math was the World Heavyweight Championship match, where the fans chose Shawn Michaels by 38%, to face the champion, Triple H for the championship. Coming into the match, Michaels' knee was legitimately injured. Triple H used the injury to his advantage during the beginning of the bout, as he hit and targeted the leg, including applying a Figure four leglock on Michaels. Michaels would however, gain the advantage when he countered a maneuver by Triple H, which had him hit the steel ring post. Later into the match, as Michaels was about to perform Sweet Chin Music on Triple H, Edge interfered in the match and hit Michaels with a shoulder block takedown. Following this, Triple H covered Michaels to win the match via pinfall and retain the World Heavyweight Championship.

The main event and final match of the night was between Randy Orton and Ric Flair. The match was a Steel cage match, which gained 68% of the vote. During the match, both Orton and Flair managed to get the upper hand. A spot in the match saw Flair hit a low blow on Orton and proceeding to send him crashing head-first into the steel cage, causing Orton to bleed from the head. Orton regained the momentum by sending Flair into the steel cage, thus resulting in Flair to bleed from the head. The match concluded with Orton performing a jumping cutter and pinning Flair for the pinfall victory.

Aftermath

Following Taboo Tuesday, Evolution (Triple H, Ric Flair and Batista) were put in charge of "Raw", after Eric Bischoff took the night off. Triple H granted Flair the match of his choice; Flair wanted a rematch with Randy Orton,cite web|url=http://www.pwwew.net/tv/raw/041025.htm|title=Dangerous Deal|accessdate=2008-04-04|date=2004-10-25|publisher=PWWEW.net] cite web|url=http://onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/041025.html|title=RAW results - October 25, 2004|accessdate=2008-04-03|publisher=Online World of Wrestling] as he lost a steel cage match to Orton the previous night.cite web|url=http://www.pwwew.net/ppv/wwf/october/raw2004.htm|title=Taboo Tuesday 2004 Results|accessdate=2008-04-03|publisher=PWWEW.net] Orton accepted Flair's challenge, with a stipulation that if he defeated Flair he would get an opportunity to face Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series. Orton did not receive an opportunity for the World Heavyweight Championship, as he lost to Flair. On the November 1 edition of "Raw", Eric Bischoff scheduled a traditional 8-man elimination tag team match between Team Orton (Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Maven [Maven Huffman] and Chris Benoit) versus Team Triple H (Triple H, Batista, Edge and Gene Snitsky) at Survivor Series. The winning team would be granted absolute control of running the show for a month,cite web|url=http://www.pwwew.net/tv/raw/041101.htm|title=Strength in Numbers|accessdate=2008-04-08|date=2004-11-01|publisher=PWWEW.net] cite web|url=http://onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/041101.html|title=RAW results - November 1, 2004|accessdate=2008-04-08|publisher=Online World of Wrestling] and the winning members would all get a week to be in charge of the show.cite web|url=http://www.pwwew.net/tv/raw/041108.htm|title=Friends or Foes?|accessdate=2008-04-08|date=2004-11-08|publisher=PWWEW.net] cite web|url=http://onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/041108.html|title=RAW results - November 8, 2004|accessdate=2008-04-08|publisher=Online World of Wrestling] At Survivor Series, Team Orton defeated Team Triple H and the team were given the opportunity to be in charge of Raw for a week. [cite web|url=http://www.pwwew.net/ppv/wwf/november/2004.htm|title=Survivor Series 2004 Results|accessdate=2008-07-25|publisher=PWWEW.net]

On the October 25 edition of "Raw", a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship was scheduled between Shelton Benjamin and Chris Jericho. The match saw Benjamin defeat Jericho and retain the Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Benjamin was attacked by Christian, in which Christian overhooked Benjamin's arms and pivoted 180º and driving his face onto the mat, a move Christian calls the "Unprettier". The following week, Eric Bischoff scheduled an Intercontinental Championship match between Benjamin and Christian at Survivor Series. At Survivor Series, Benjamin retained the Intercontinental Championship, after he performed a T-Bone Suplex on Christian and capturing the pinfall victory. [cite web|first=Adam|last=Martin|url=http://www.wrestleview.com/news2004/1100493995.shtml|title=Survivor Series PPV Results - 11/14/04 - Cleveland, Ohio|accessdate=2008-07-27|date=2004-11-14|publisher=WrestleView.com]

In November 2004, Lita returned to the women's division. She began a feud with Trish Stratus after Stratus called Lita "chubby" because of her pregnancy weight gain. Lita challenged Stratus to a WWE Women's Championship match at Survivor Series, however, due to the months of humiliation and being verbally berated by Stratus, Lita was more concerned with doing as much damage as possible, leading to her disqualification. [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries/history/2004/results/|title=Survivor Series 2004 results|accessdate=2008-07-29|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment] [cite web|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/PPVReports/2004/11/15/723410.html|title=Orton survives at Series|last=Sokol|first=Chris|date=2004-11-15|work=SLAM! Sports|publisher=Canadian Online Explorer|accessdate=2008-09-12]

Reception

The Bradley Center has a maximum capacity of 18,717. [cite web|url=http://www.buyselltix.com/nba/stadium/bucksStadium.php|title=Brad Center: Milwaukee Bucks Stadium|accessdate=2008-08-14|publisher=BuySellTix] [cite web|url=http://insidearenas.com/eastern/BradleyCenter.htm|title=Bradly Center - Milwaukee Bucks|accessdate=2008-08-14|publisher=Inside Arenas] The event grossed over $215,000 in ticket sales from an attendance of 3,500. The event resulted in 174,000 pay-per-view buys (a 0.31 pay-per-view buyrate).cite web|url=http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2004/docs/2Q_2005_Press_Release_final.pdf|title=World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Reports Q2 Results|accessdate=2008-08-14|date=2004-11-23|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment Corporate|format=PDF] The promotion's pay-per-view revenue was $24.7 million, greater than the prior year's revenue of $18.5 million. Canadian Online Explorer's professional wrestling section rated the entire event a five out of ten stars. The rating was lower than the Taboo Tuesday event in 2005, which rated a seven out of ten stars. [cite web|first=Chris|last=Sokol|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/PPVReports/2005/11/02/1289908.html|title=Taboo Tuesday delivers decently|accessdate=2008-08-14|date=2005-11-02|publisher=Canadian Online Explorer|work=SLAM! Sports] The Steel cage match was rated a ten of ten stars. The Lingerie Pillow Fight match was rated zero out of ten stars.

The event was released on DVD on November 23, 2004. [cite web|url=http://www.fye.com/WWE--Taboo-Tuesday-WWE_stcVVproductId2982936VVcatId540232VVviewprod.htm|title=WWE Taboo Tuesday DVD|accessdate=2008-08-14|publisher=For Your Entertainment] The DVD was distributed by the label, Sony Music Entertainment. The DVD reached seventh on "Billboard's" DVD Sales Chart for recreational sports during the week of December 18, 2004, although falling thereafter. [cite web|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=394&cfgn=Videos&cfn=Video+Sales+-+Recreational+Sports+DVD&ci=3056482&cdi=8249803&cid=12%2F18%2F2004|title=Taboo Tuesday 2004 DVD Sales|accessdate=2008-08-14|work=Billboard] It remained in the chart for two consecutive weeks, until the week of January 1, 2005, when it ranked 12th. [cite web|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=394&cfgn=Videos&cfn=Video+Sales+-+Recreational+Sports+DVD&ci=3056650&cdi=8256141&cid=01%2F01%2F2005|title=Taboo Tuesday 2004 DVD Sales|accessdate=2008-08-14|work=Billboard] The DVD also received reviews from customers; the average customer rating from Amazon.com was three and a half out of five stars. [cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/WWE-Taboo-Tuesday-2004-Flair/dp/B00068S3KU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1218758097&sr=1-1|title=Taboo Tuesday 2004 DVD Sales at Amazon.com|accessdate=2008-08-14|publisher=Amazon.com]

Results

Notes

References

*(2004). "Taboo Tuesday [DVD] . World Wrestling Entertainment."
*

External links

* [http://www.wwe.com/shows/cybersunday/history/2004 Official Taboo Tuesday 2004 website]