Royal Rumble (2004)

Event
Royal Rumble (2004) was the 17th annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was presented by Sony's PlayStation 2, took place on January 25, 2004, at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Missouri and featured talent from the Raw, SmackDown! and Hardnitro brands.

As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a match at that year's WrestleMania, in this instance WrestleMania XX. Beginning with this Royal Rumble, the winner could challenge at WrestleMania his choice of either the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, WWE Global Heavyweight Championship or the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

Eight professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's supercard, a scheduling of more than one main event. The main event was the annual 40-man Royal Rumble match, which featured wrestlers from both brands. Chris Benoit, the first entrant, won the match by last eliminating The Big Show, the thirty-fourth entrant. This win resulted in Benoit breaking the longevity record last held by Bob Backlund, staying in the match for over one hour, Samoa Joe made his debut during a Royal Rumble match, and faced his cousin The Rock in the ring. The primary match on the Raw brand was between the United States champion Eddie Guerrero and the WWE World champion Goldberg for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Stone Cold Steve Austin attacks Goldberg, costing him the WWE World title.. The predominant match on the SmackDown! brand was Scott Steiner versus Bret Hart for the WWE Global Heavyweight Championship, which Bret Hart won. The main match from Hardnitro was R-Truth versus Rhino for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The featured match on the undercard was a Tables match for the World Tag Team Championship between Evolution (Ric Flair and Batista) and the Disciples of Apocalypse (Brian Lee and Don Harris), which Evolution won. Brock Lesnar faces Hardcore Holly who returned after recovering from his broken neck by Lesnar. The Undertaker (with Brian Adams) deafeated Kane in a Casket match. Shawn Michaels faces Triple H in a Last Man Standing match.