Summer Slam (2004) - Background

Background

The main feud heading into SummerSlam on the Raw brand was between Chris Benoit and Randy Orton, with the two feuding over the World Heavyweight Championship. At Vengeance, Benoit defeated Triple H to retain the title. On the July 26 edition of Raw, Orton won a 20-man battle royal, last eliminating Chris Jericho, to become the number one contender to the title at SummerSlam. Also that night, Benoit defeated Triple H in a 60-minute Iron Man match to retain the title with the help of Eugene. The following week on Raw, Evolution (Orton, Batista, and Ric Flair) defeated Benoit, Edge, and Chris Jericho. Evolution won the match after Orton pinned Benoit following an RKO. On the August 9 edition of Raw, Benoit defeated the team of Orton and Triple H in a Handicap match by disqualification.

The primary feud on the SmackDown! brand was between John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) and The Undertaker, both of whom wanted the WWE Championship. JBL had won the title two months prior at The Great American Bash by defeating then-champion Eddie Guerrero in a Texas Bullrope match. One month later, on the July 22 edition of SmackDown!, JBL defeated a jobber to retain the title. After the match, Undertaker came out and challenged JBL to a match at SummerSlam. On the August 5 edition of SmackDown!, as JBL called out The Undertaker, a midget wrestler came out and began to imitate the real Undertaker. The real Undertaker came out shortly afterwards and attacked JBL, until Orlando Jordan came out to help him. The following week, Undertaker defeated Jordan by disqualification after JBL interfered and executed a Clothesline from Hell on Undertaker.

The secondary feud on the SmackDown! brand was between Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero. The feud first started at WrestleMania XX, when Guerrero defeated Angle to successfully retain the WWE Championship. Guerrero lost the title to John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) in June, when Angle, then-SmackDown! General Manager, screwed Guerrero and declared JBL the winner. Three weeks later, on the July 15 edition of SmackDown!, JBL defeated Guerrero in a Steel Cage match to retain the title. Towards the end of the match, El Gran Luchadore (portrayed by Angle) interfered, giving JBL enough time to escape the cage and win the match. After the match ended, Guerrero attacked Luchadore and pulled off his mask, revealing him to be Kurt Angle. On the following edition of SmackDown!, Vince McMahon scheduled a match between Angle and Guerrero for SummerSlam.

The secondary feud on the Raw brand was between Triple H and Eugene. The feud first started, when on the May 17 episode of Raw, during an in-ring segment with The Rock, Eugene revealed that is favorite wrestler was in fact Triple H due to Eugene's adoration of "playing games". Capitalizing on this opportunity, Triple H began to befriend the star-struck and naive Eugene even making the young wrestler an honorary member of Triple H's stable Evolution. However, Triple H soon revealed that this was all a calculated ploy and that he planned to utilize Eugene to help him win back the World Heavyweight Championship from Chris Benoit. Yet, Triple H's plan failed miserably when during his title match with Benoit at Vengeance, Eugene inadvertently hit him with a steel chair costing him the match and the championship. The following night on Raw, Triple H responded by brutally assaulting Eugene in the ring after falsely implying that he had forgiven him for the preceding night's events. On the July 26 episode of Raw, Eugene would return to exact a degree of revenge by costing Triple H his re-match with Benoit. This led to an infuriated Triple H demanding a match between the two at SummerSlam, to which Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff consented.