Taboo Tuesday (2004) - Background

Background

See also: Professional wrestling

Unlike most WWE events, where rules and participants for matches were determined by WWE's creative staff, this was the first event where at least some part of each match was determined by votes from WWE fans conducted on WWE's official website. The event was scheduled to feature eight professional wrestling matches. Various wrestlers were involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines leading to the matches taking place at this event. Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or fan favorites as they followed a series of tension-building events. The event featured wrestlers and other talent from the Raw brand – a storyline division in which WWE assigned its on-air talent to separate television brands.

The main event at Taboo Tuesday was a match between Randy Orton and Ric Flair where the online fan vote would determine whether the match was a steel cage match, a Falls Count Anywhere match, or a submission match. On the September 27, 2004, episode of Raw — one of WWE's primary television programs — Orton was given an opportunity to face Triple H at Taboo Tuesday for the World Heavyweight Championship if he was able to win a match against Batista, but he was not able to do so. During the singles match, Ric Flair interfered on behalf of Batista. This led to Orton blaming his loss on Flair. Orton commented on everything Flair had accomplished in the WWE and criticized him for calling Triple H the greatest wrestler of all. Flair responded to Orton's comments. He asserted that despite Orton's claim of being a "Legend Killer", wrestlers whom he had defeated such as Shawn Michaels and Mick Foley are not truly legends and therefore do not make Orton a true "Legend Killer". Flair also announced that he and Orton would meet in a match at Taboo Tuesday and the fans would have the opportunity to choose what type of match they would compete in.

One of the featured matches on the under-card was contested for the World Heavyweight Championship, in which Triple H would have to defend the title against the fans' choice of three possible opponents: Chris Benoit, Edge, or Shawn Michaels. At Unforgiven, Raw's previous pay-per-view event, Triple H defeated Randy Orton to capture the World Heavyweight Championship. 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 by coming out of the cake and assaulting the three members of Evolution, Triple H's stable with Ric Flair and Batista, which Orton had previously been a part of. On the October 4 episode of Raw, it was announced that because Orton has not won the opportunity to challenge Triple H, fans would be able to choose between three potential contenders for Triple H's World title at Taboo Tuesday. Chris Benoit and Edge were revealed as two of the candidates. Shawn Michaels, however, competed in a qualifying match, which saw him defeat Christian, to become the third candidate. On the October 18 episode of Raw, a standard match involving three wrestlers, called a Triple Threat match, was scheduled between Benoit, Edge, and Michaels. Edge won the match after he pinned Benoit by using the ring ropes for unfair leverage. During the match, Michaels legitimately injured his left knee, tearing his meniscus.

The other featured preliminary match was between Kane 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. The next night on Raw, Kane demanded that authority figure Eric Bischoff, a portrayed match-maker and rule-enforcer, give him a rematch against Michaels, but Bischoff refused to do so as Michaels was preoccupied with appearing in Chris Jericho's interview segment, The Highlight Reel. Bischoff, however, scheduled Kane in a no disqualification match against an opponent of Bischoff's choice. Kane's opponent was revealed to be Gene Snistky. During the match, Kane's scripted wife, Lita, who was pregnant in the storyline, entered the ring. This led to Kane accidentally falling on top of her after Snitsky hit Kane with a steel chair, ending the match. Trainers and emergency medical technicians rushed to the scene and took Lita away in an ambulance for medical attention. The following week, Kane was informed by doctors that Lita suffered a scripted miscarriage following the events of the previous week. On the September 27 episode of Raw, in an interview with Todd Grisham, Kane informed Grisham that he sought revenge against Snitsky for his actions. The following week, Lita gave her first interview since the miscarriage and revealed that she and Kane would get payback against Snitsky. During the same episode, Snitsky was interviewed by Raw commentator Jim Ross and told Ross that the death of the couple's unborn child was not his fault. Kane interrupted the interview segment, but Snitsky attacked Kane with a lead pipe in self-defense. This led Bischoff to announce a Weapon of Choice match for Taboo Tuesday, where fans would be able to vote on whether a lead pipe, a steel chain, or a steel chair would be legal for use in the match.

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