Victory Road (2004) - Background

Background

The main event at Victory Road was a Ladder match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship between the champion, Jeff Jarrett, and the challenger, Jeff Hardy. In a Ladder match, two or more participants fight to climb a ladder to retrieve a contract, championship belt, or some other type of object to win. Jarrett was scripted to defend the championship against Hardy on the October 15 episode of TNA's primary television program, TNA Impact!, after Hardy won a tournament to become number one contender. Jarrett defeated Hardy to retain the championship once before, on September 6 at TNA's final weekly PPV, which set up the rivalry between the two. On the October 22 episode of Impact!, Hardy challenged Jarrett to contest their bout under Ladder match rules, which Jarrett accepted.

The highest promoted match, second only to the main event in importance, scheduled for Victory Road was between the tag team pairings of America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) (AMW) and Triple X (Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper) (XXX), with them competing in an Elimination Last Team Standing match. In this match, the teams fought each other until both members of one team could not stand up before the referee counted to ten. The build up to this match began on the previous weekly PPV, when Storm was not cleared to wrestle so XXX took AMW's place in challenging for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. Daniels was injured early in the evening after a scripted assault by The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens). Harris was written into the plotline to replace Daniels in challenging and defeating The Naturals for the tag team championship at the PPV. On the September 24 episode of Impact!, Daniels and Storm were forced to team together and challenge Skipper and Harris for the championship, which they were successful in winning. Storm and Daniels later lost the championship to Team Canada (Bobby Roode and Eric Young) on the October 15 episode of Impact!. Harris and Storm then re-joined together to continue as AMW, while Daniels and Skipper did the same as XXX. After a few brawls between the two teams on Impact!, AMW challenged XXX to a Last Team Standing match at Victory Road on the October 29 episode of Impact!.

In TNA's X Division, the TNA X Division Champion Petey Williams was scripted to defend the championship against A.J. Styles. The narrative plot assigned to their rivalry began when Williams assaulted Styles after he defeated Kid Kash in a Tables match on the previous weekly PPV. Williams and the alliance he was associated with at the time, Team Canada, repeatedly attacked Styles following the event on Impact!. Styles become the number one contender to the X Division Championship by winning a match involving six other men on the October 1 episode of Impact!, setting up a match between the two at Victory Road for the championship.

TNA held the first ever Monster's Ball match, featuring Monty Brown, Abyss, and Raven, at Victory Road. There were no disqualifications and pinfalls and submissions were counted anywhere in this match. Brown, Abyss, and Raven were all involved in a tournament to challenge Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at Victory Road which set up a rivalry between the three. On the October 29 episode of Impact!, Raven challenged Brown and Abyss to a Monsters Ball match at Victory Road, which was later booked for the event without Brown nor Abyss accepting the challenge.

The TNA Director of Authority (DOA) was voted on at Victory Road. The candidates were the current DOA, Vince Russo, and Dusty Rhodes. After weeks of arguing between the two over how TNA should be run, Russo stated on the October 15 episode of Impact! that the fans would decide at Victory Road, per an online vote held on TNA's official website.