• WWE HISTORY (June 17, 2004) – WWE SmackDown!
On this day in 2004, World Wrestling Entertainment aired an episode of their weekly TV show ‘WWE SmackDown!’.
It was pre-taped at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois and featured matches, interviews & storyline segments on the road to the ‘WWE The Great American Bash 2004’ PPV.
Here’s the card:
1. WWE Tag Titles: Dudley Boyz vs. Charlie Haas & Rico
2. Eddie Guerrero vs. Doug Basham
3. Kenzo Suzuki vs. Spike Dudley
4. WWE Cruiserweight Title: Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero Sr.
5. Luther Reigns vs. Funaki
6. John Cena & Rob Van Dam vs. Booker T & Rene Dupree
WATCH: Impact Wrestling Diva Scarlett Bordeaux Groped By A Fan:
• Batista Reveals If He Had A Say In The Creative Process For His Final WWE Run
During a recent interview with ProWrestlingSheet, former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Batista talked about his final run in WWE and his feud with Triple H.
Below are the highlights:
On wanting to tease a feud with Triple H and checking if there’s interest:
“The reason is, I said I want to go back, and I want to tease the thing with me and Triple H. Because I want to know if people are still interested. Because it had been so far removed and it has been so many years since our rivalry. I didn’t know if people would care anymore.”
We teased it [at SmackDown 1000] and it went over great. As I was leaving, and Hunter knows I’ve wanted this match at Mania for years to end my career — I wouldn’t officially retire or even consider going into the Hall of Fame until I had this match to close out my career — but as I was leaving Hunter goes, ‘get in shape, motherf***er.’ And I was like ‘alright, it’s on!'”
On becoming a heel against Triple H:
“It was a weird spot to be in because I didn’t realize that Hunter had been getting so much love lately, and deservedly so for everything he had done with NXT. He was just getting a lot of love. He wasn’t the heel he’d always been.
Then it got to the point where I just felt like people didn’t really care. They weren’t reading into the whole heel/babyface thing. They were reading into the nostalgic rivalry between us. And it was two guys that really just wanted to beat the hell out of each other. And they just wanted to see us beat the hell out of each other.
So when I started kinda thinking more along those lines then it just became much easier. I mean, honestly, we’re both heels. People just wanted to see us go to war.”
On if he had a say in the creative process for his final WWE run:
“I was completely involved. I didn’t want to go back as early as I did. They wanted me to come back to Atlanta for Ric’s 70th (birthday celebration). I thought it was too early. I said, ‘If I come back this early, what are we going to do?’
The last time I came back, they had all these weeks where they didn’t know what they wanted me to do, sent me out and I just regurgitated the same old crap. Then the people booed and they just sh*t all over it. And it deserved that because it was horrible.
I said, ‘if I come back early, we got to have a plan.’ It wasn’t the plan we ended up using. They wanted us to have a beef in the ring. It was between Hunter and I. I felt if I was out there, it would be watered down. We ended up doing what we did. The whole time I’m thinking ‘God, I just hope Ric is okay’.”
