2004 could be described as the year of John Sina.

He had gone from almost fired in 2002 to becoming the man two years later. And yes, as Sina has said, a huge reason for this was Brock Lesnar decided to leave the company. We had some holes to fill. You also get the return of the dead man and in many ways a very significant line being drawn between Brawns Smackdown. You want to talk about the B show? Well, I think Vince McMahon certainly made that call. So what can we learn from all the Blue Brand shows in 2004?

I'm Simon Miller. Let's find out. Number nine, the risk of all risks. November 4th, smacker down. W.W.E was doing their on the show tough enough segments and basically bullying potential new recruits to see how they'd handle themselves. One of these has become super famous because it was when Kurt Angle challenged any of the contestants to get in the ring and basically scrap with him for real. Now, WWE thought they'd full proof this as the tough enough guys had been run ragged, or they'd been blown up so much, how could they possibly ever compete with the Olympic gold medalist, even if Kurt Angle at the time was a little bit beaten up. Sadly, for him, it was MMA trained Daniel Puder who accepted this war and man, he decided to go all in. I assume Kurt was never planning to go 100%, so Pudor took advantage of that, and he actually got Angle in the Camorrah lock. If he had sunk that in properly, who knows where we'd be, and Kurt had to think fast. He sort of rolled Daniel onto his shoulders in the most devastating moving all of sports entertainment, the surprise roll-up as the referee thought, you know what, I'm going to do a quick one, two, three. This was a panic situation to save a lot of blushes, and Angler erupted afterwards too. He felt like this rookie had gone into business for himself. The real silliness was WWE, even thinking they should do this. You're a predetermined product, damn it.

Don't leave things to chance. Like all of us, all of a sudden forgot that brawl for all mess. It really would have been bad for Angle 2 because he was a legit shooter. The novices were presented exactly as that. Novices. I'm sure we would have figured it out, but let's just agree. Kurt getting the pin was far better than the alternative, at least for Daniel Puder.

Number eight, the Eddie Forgone Frog Splash.

Today when somebody does something crazy, But let's just agree, Kurt getting the pin was far better than the alternative, at least for Daniel

Puder.

Number eight, the Eddie Forgotten Frog Splash.

Today, when somebody does something crazy, it's often criticised because the beards and this moves on so fast it doesn't mean anything. We all stop talking about it. Well, actually, that's nothing new because wrestlers were falling foul to this back in 2004. It was a great year for Eddie Guerrero because he broke out as one of WWE's biggest stars,

and his title win at No Way Out against Brock Lesnar is all time. If you want to feel warm and fuzzy, your tum-tum, it's right here. Eddie's first port of call was to turn the newly dubbed JBL into a mega heel, though. So as a true professional, he got right on that. Some of their matches were absolute bloodbast you wouldn't believe today. On the 15th of July, W.W.E. wanted them to end their feud, so booked them in a cage match on Smackdown. I just feel like this isn't remembered enough anyway, but towards the end, Guerrero does climb up to the top, and yep, he ruins Bradshaw with a splash of the frogs. You can see Eddie takes that bump hard as well. It could be selling, but good grief he looks in pain. pain. Coah angle would interfere to help JBL win, and maybe that's why we don't speak of this bump enough. It's not as bonkers as, say, a Mick Foley, but it is still huge high-risk move that can always go wrong. So basically, this one deserves more praise and that's why I'm here. Make sure you throw it in as and when insane bumps get brought up. Number seven the other ready matches, honestly. Guerrero was so good throughout the 2004 period, and I suppose in hindsight was the peak of his WWE career. Right after No Way Out as the WWE champion, he wrestled Nephew Charvo, and quite clearly given their bond they knew the deal. We need Eddie to feel like a beast, and they wrestled their asses off. It's like watching WCW from 1997. Coangole was a special guest referee because him and Guerrera were at odds and yet it's the forgotten match between these two that we also need to give more love. On the 2nd of September they have a two out of three falls bout and it's so good. But I understand why we talk about Kurt versus Eddie from WrestleMania 20, but this one is also worthy of your eyes. They almost go 30 minutes

for Angle wins 2 to 1 and I tell you so many people don't even know this exists because it's

another one that really gets talked about. It's basically a ghost. So let's change that. Check out

both today. You will not be disappointed. Number 6, the draft. So we hinted at this during the intro

and yes. For whatever reason, Vincent Man went big on Raw and sort of sold Smackdown off as a joke. This is mostly due to the now long shared skit of Triple H being moved to the Blue brand, reacting like he was offended before coming back to Raw before the evening was done. So yes, it was a troll. No disrespect to the following list either, but they just weren't major stars because WWE didn't treat them that way. Therefore, having René Dupre, Mark, Jindrack and Spike Dudley as your big shift to Smackdown didn't work, the audience hadn't been programmed to care. Rob Van Dam and the Dudleys were way better, but they still weren't Triple H levels, and the whole draft had been centred around the game. You can also see it on the show itself, too.

The wrestlers busted their asses, but the creator was always more focused than what was happening on Mondays. Wrestlers would fall out about this backstage, too. Talked about it a lot. Number five, the 14th of October brawl. You will never recall this match just from the date. JBL was still the WWE champion and he took on hardcore holly.

The world title was on the line too for some reason.

I think mostly as this was recorded in Manchester, WW wanted to give something to the UK crowd. It also could be why they beat the skin off each other because good grief. You'd think it was their last ever match. They're so stiff and even the punches, they just hit each other. Why not, I suppose? If you need a comparison, think back to what Bradshaw did with Finley at WrestleMania 24, it's war. You got to give it to JBL because he sells this like he's in real trouble, which is the art of a good heel, and it could be Holly's best ever WW appearance too, and even Bradshaw-laky Orlando Jordan at ringside works. Of course, he takes some shots. It's a fight. The share shot's a hard core is most definitely not cool today, but it's a different world back then, and allow JPL to win in controversial fashion. Still, if you're looking for a surprise find, you just found it. Number four, John Sina earned his spot. I mean, it is really obvious. It's not like management just changed their mind and push John Sina. The man is just improving constantly throughout 2004 and he ain't even Super Sina yet. He's a dude fighting for his position, hence why the fans love him. They can feel it. And WrestleMania at 20, he does win the US title from the big show as well so the audience could believe and before long he's basically the focal point of Smackdown. Thank goodness for that as well, because man, they needed it.

John does view with Raleigh Dupree, which you don't need to go back to, but his best-of-five series with Booker T is actually very good. Felt like both guys needed each other, and you get that shocked title lost to Carlito in October, which happens on TV. Men, it just keeps you guessing. Sadly, yes, that did then lead to that stabbing angle, courtesy of Jesus.

But in 2004, courtesy of Jesus.

But in 2004, W.W. was still obsessed with pushing this envelope. And before long, you can smell it in the air.

John Cena is on the path to the top. His confidence grows too, starts taking some chances.

The true flinging to the top of the card is when he did move to Roar in 2005, but 2004 is also his year. Without him, the blue brand would have been painfully thin. Number three, Kenzo Suzuki. Now we don't need anything else in that title other than his name, because that sums it up. Kenzo Suzuki, I have no idea what WW was thinking or what they wanted to do. But it could have started terribly as WW did pitch this horrendously offensive gimmick that you can read about, but even that was canned at the last minute. I mean when Vince McMahon knows it's bad. The issue there is they have no plan before Suzuki, so he debuts on Smackdown and does nothing, less than nothing. He randomly gets put with bully gun for no reason, and then he was tagging with Renee Dupree.

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