Taboo Tuesday (2004) - Event - Preliminary Matches

Preliminary Matches

The first televised match was for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, in which Chris Jericho defended the title against Shelton Benjamin, who won the fans' vote with 37%. The match started off with Jericho performing an enzuigiri, an attack that strikes the back of the head. This was followed with Jericho on the top ropes, which was countered when Benjamin jumped on the ropes and performed a superplex on Jericho. Later in the match, Jericho performed variety of signature move attempts, such as grabbing Benjamin's head and driving his face into the mat and springboarding the middle rope to perform a backflip, but Benjamin countered the attacks. The match came to an end when Benjamin performed a T-Bone Suplex on Jericho and gaining the pinfall victory and becoming the new Intercontinental Champion.

The voting results for Triple H's opponent for the World Heavyweight Championship were then revealed, with Shawn Michaels winning. The next match was a Fulfill Your Fantasy Battle Royal match for the WWE Women's Championship between Molly Holly, Stacy Keibler, Victoria, Gail Kim, Jazz, Nidia, and Trish Stratus, an elimination style match where the last person in the ring is the winner. The first to be eliminated was Nidia, which was followed with the elimination of Jazz. Kim performed a hurricanrana on Victoria, a move that is executed by jumping forward and straddling on a standing opponent's shoulders, but Victoria countered the move as she sent Kim out of the ring, thus being eliminated from the match. Victoria was eliminated afterwards by both Stratus and Molly, after they double teamed Victoria. Stratus and Molly continued working together, as they got the upper hand over Keibler. Molly eliminated Keibler from the match. This led Stratus to catch Molly off-guard, as she pushed her through the ropes to retain her WWE Women's Championship.

The third match was between Gene Snitsky and Kane (with Lita). The match was a Weapons of Choice match, which gained 41% of the vote. The match began with Kane, as he grabbed a chain and used it against Snitsky's head. Snitsky regained the momentum by grabbing the chain and swinging the chain onto Kane's head and proceeding to choke Kane with it. Back and forth action took place; the match, however, came to an end when Snitsky came off of the second rope onto a steel chair that was wrapped around Kane's neck and pinned him for the win.

The next match was between General Manager Eric Bischoff and Eugene in a "Choose the Loser's Fate". The match saw Eugene defeat Bischoff, after Eugene performed a leg drop to get the pinfall victory. After the match ended, the audience voted that Bischoff get his head shaved. Jonathan Coachman, however, announced that the audience instead voted "Loser is Winners Servant", in which he and Bischoff would be Eugene's servants for five minutes. WWE Chairman Vince McMahon came out and reversed the stipulation and announced that Bischoff would get his head shaved. McMahon warned that if Bischoff did not go through it, he would be fired. Eugene shaved Bischoff's hair and Coachman was forced to wear a dress for messing up the outcome of the match.

The fifth match was for the World Tag Team Championships between La Résistance (Sylvain Grenier and Robért Conway) against Edge and Chris Benoit, the two individuals who were not chosen to face Triple H for the World Heavyweight championship. There was back and forth action between the two teams, as all the superstars were able to participate in the match. Edge abandoned Benoit during the match, which forced Benoit to wrestle both members of La Résistance by himself. Benoit fought them off, and he was able to get the upper hand over Grenier. The match concluded with Benoit winning the World Tag Team Championship, after he locked his hands together and pulled Conway's face and pulling his neck backwards, a move which Benoit calls the Crippler Crossface, making Conway submit to the hold.