Randy Orton's babyface turn had the ability to be invigorating for the WWE product, with the historic young champion presented as the central star to push the company forward after a stellar showing in his first pay-per-view main event. Instead, Orton's run was immediately cut down by a confounding booking decision just one night later, as his world title win was overshadowed by a shocking betrayal from the rest of Evolution, led by Triple H. The "thumbs down" moment presents excellent imagery, but it permanently harmed Orton in a way Vince McMahon somehow didn't see coming. Instead of playing the conquering hero, learning to be noble after years spent under Hunter's thumb, Orton was a damn fool, and his threat level going against Helmsley in Unforgiven's main event was diminished because of it. There would be an opportunity to course correct on this night, but as we'll see, poor old Randall Keith was hung out to dry once again.
- Unforgiven 2004 comes to you from the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland, Oregon, the first wrestling pay-per-view to emanate from "The City of Roses". Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler are on the call.
- Our opening contest sees Chris Benoit gain some retribution in his on-going war with Evolution, forging a new alliance with William Regal to defeat Ric Flair and Batista. Regal is fighting for the honor of Eugene, who is out with a kayfabe shoulder injury suffered in a Steel Cage match with Triple H, and while Benoit and Regal were an intriguing tandem on paper, given their WCW connection and similar styles, they didn't mesh as a team. Benoit and Regal don't have any combined offense, working a series of singles matches instead, which was entertaining at points but never felt like it all came together. Flair is torn asunder by both babyfaces, while Batista provides his spurts of power. The match finds a groove after Benoit's hot tag, with him tossing both heels with suplexes, and the best spot of the match sees Batista easily lift Benoit out of the Crossface, an nonchalant feat of strength that really put him over. Benoit gets another chance at the Crossface after Regal evades Batista on the outside, and this time forces a tap from the Nature Boy.
- The Christian/Trish Stratus/Tyson Tomko brigade takes over for a rough half-hour of the show, as we move from an uncomfortable backstage segment where Christian calls Trish a slut for alluring Tomko to turn up at ringside for her match, to a mostly forgettable title defense for Trish over Victoria (they did work in a couple good spots, with Trish taking a big Gorilla Press gutbuster and Victoria diving onto Tomko, but otherwise, it was extremely boring), and finally ending with an abysmal "match" where Tomko embarrasses Stevie Richards in drag. Richards, as a supposed mystery woman, has been showing up to attack Trish for weeks, and made another appearance tonight, which led to Tomko demanding the impromptu match. It's a disquieting watch, with the crowd sitting on their hands while Richards is disrobed, and all Stevie gets in over 6 minutes of ringtime is a testicular claw, which briefly slows Tomko down before the big man wins with a swinging neckbreaker. Vince's sense of humor, as always, runs completely counter to his own audience.
- The Canadians do get some redemption with Captain Charisma himself taking center stage, battling Chris Jericho in a Ladder match for the vacated Intercontinental Championship, put up for grabs due to Edge needing time off following a torn groin. This is a more physical as opposed to the more modern, flashier ladder matches, as both men subject themselves to facefuls of steel. The stiff bumps they took are certainly worthy of respect, but it also led to a subdued crowd reaction, as I think the folks in Portland were expecting something more than this. Jericho is able to buy time to retrieve the gold by leaping off the ladder for a big facebuster, before going nose-to-nose with Edge backstage, although that interaction was forgotten by the time the former champ would make his return to Raw.
- Lita hasn't quit her attempt to bring her rape perpetrator, and now kayfabe husband, Kane, to justice, enlisting the returning Shawn Michaels in the role this month. Shawn was written off by having his throat crushed by Kane, and while he put in a solid shift here, this No Disqualification match was a ho-hum affair. Kane dominates, snuffing out brief comeback attempts, and only rarely does the match turn towards more hardcore tendencies. Shawn rattles Kane's dome with an ugly chair shot (I see what you were alluding to, Hangman), before leaping through a Chokeslam to turn Kane's lights out with Sweet Chin Music. Shawn was up to his usual tricks, a wonderful babyface as ever, but this was too tame for my tastes.
- Before the show closer, Rhyno and Tajiri turn up, putting in an alright performance as a team in a loss to World Tag Team Champions La Resistance. Tajiri's in-ring speed and stiff kicks stood out, and Rhyno's hot tag was competent. The Man Beast almost takes the gold with a Gore, only for Sylvain Grenier to hook the bottom rope at the last instant, before one measly whack from his French flag pole is enough to KO Rhyno.
- Main event time, as Randy Orton defends the World Heavyweight Championship against Triple H in a match that did young Randy absolutely no favors. Unlike at SummerSlam, Haitch is dominant, picking apart the champion with relative ease, focusing on the leg. The Portland crowd is game for Orton, building up some noise whenever he gets in offense, but it's so infrequent, and the lopsided booking makes it clear that Orton is out of his depth. Orton does pick up the pace well in the final minutes, taking flight with a crossbody, before dropping Flair, Batista, and replacement ref Jonathan Coachman, as all the heel lackies are left laying. This sequence includes a glimpse at how awesome Orton's delivery of the RKO can be, as he slips out of a Pedigree and immediately catches Coachman with it. If Randy gathered his wits about him, and put Hunter away, it would redeem some of the damage that's already been done to his character, but the sabotage is far from over. Instead, it's Triple H that emerges triumphant, blasting Orton with a chair, then deliver a Pedigree onto the twisted hunk of metal to claim yet another world title. Nobody needed or wanted this, but we're back to Triple effing H running Raw. Sigh.
3/10
Wasting any chance at turning Orton into a true main event player was Unforgiven's biggest sin, but this was a messy card even beyond the infuriating final act. Shawn's win was the highlight, but no match exceeded expectations, and man, it's hard to muster much excitement for the future of Raw right now.
- Henry
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