Survivor Series 2004: A Transitional Big Four Show Finds Three Good Matches Around a Forgettable Middle

The four-way opens the show with exactly the pace the card needs. Mysterio, Kidman, Chavo, and Spike move through short alliances, quick saves, dives, and multi-man combinations without allowing the match to settle into a slow sequence of one-on-one pairings. The Tower of Doom and Mysterio's top-rope hurricanrana give the middle memorable visual peaks, while Kidman's late leg drop on Chavo creates the opening Spike needs to steal the pin. Nine minutes is the right length because the action feels urgent rather than compressed. The champion survives through opportunism instead of domination, which fits his character. Contemporary reviews consistently identify this as one of the night's strongest matches, and it remains the easiest recommendation on the card.

Benjamin and Christian follow the opener with a more traditional singles match and nearly match its quality. Christian controls the middle through positioning and Tyson Tomko's interference, giving Benjamin enough adversity to make the champion's comeback feel earned. Benjamin's athletic counters are the attraction: the springboard attack, clean landings, explosive clothesline, and T-Bone Suplex all make him look like a champion with unusual physical upside. Tomko's late boot creates a convincing near fall without hijacking the finish, and Benjamin immediately answers by removing him and pinning Christian cleanly. The thirteen-minute runtime lets the match breathe while preserving momentum. It is not a classic, but it is a strong showcase for Benjamin at the point when WWE was asking viewers to accept him as a serious singles champion.

The SmackDown elimination match has plenty of star power but almost no competitive suspense. Carlito leaves before the bell after Cena chases him from the arena, immediately shrinking Team Angle and turning the rest into a controlled showcase for the babyfaces. Eddie Guerrero carries the longest connective stretch, Rob Van Dam supplies the quickest burst, and Big Show's power spots provide simple eliminations. Kurt Angle cheats to remove Van Dam and briefly creates tension, but Jindrak and Reigns disappear quickly enough that Angle is soon isolated against three survivors. Cena barely needs to wrestle before contributing the FU that sets up the finish. The crowd enjoys the heroes, yet the structure never creates the escalating uncertainty that makes the best Survivor Series matches memorable. It is competent, brisk, and narratively lopsided.

Undertaker and Heidenreich are asked to fill nearly sixteen minutes with a matchup that never has enough material for the assignment. Undertaker's familiar offense and presence keep the match professionally organized, but Heidenreich spends long stretches relying on punches, choking, clotheslines, and holds that produce little escalation. Paul Heyman's interference establishes the expected heel advantage without changing the basic rhythm. The audience reacts to Undertaker's signature comeback, yet the challenger never feels like someone capable of surviving once Chokeslam and Tombstone become available. The finish is clean and decisive, which is preferable to prolonging the feud through a cheap result, but the program continued anyway. Multiple contemporary and retrospective reviews identify this as the card's weakest full-length match, and the excessive runtime remains its defining flaw.

As an angle, Trish and Lita's confrontation is vicious and memorable; as a pay-per-view title match, it is barely a match at all. Lita attacks immediately, follows Trish outside, and uses a chair until the referee has no choice but to call for a disqualification after little more than a minute. The post-match assault continues the personal hatred and leaves Trish with a bloody nose, creating visual intensity that the bell-to-bell portion never has time to develop. That aggression eventually feeds a much more important Raw main event between them, so the segment has storyline purpose. The grading problem is simple: viewers paid for a Women's Championship match and received a short setup piece instead. The performers communicate animosity well, but competitive wrestling is almost absent.

JBL and Booker T never generate the urgency expected from a WWE Championship match. Booker supplies enough offense to create a few credible comeback moments, including the Book End on the floor, missile dropkick, and late kicks, but the pace repeatedly stalls around JBL's methodical control. The larger issue is overbooking. Orlando Jordan interferes several times, the referee is knocked down, a second referee appears, Josh Mathews becomes involved, and Jordan removes the replacement official before JBL finally uses the championship belt to steal the pin. Cheap survival fits JBL's character, yet layering so many devices onto one finish makes the challenger feel trapped inside an angle rather than close to winning on merit. The crowd's muted response compounds the problem. It advances the reign, but it does little to make either man feel more important.

The Raw elimination main event succeeds because the stipulation gives every survival and elimination a reason to matter. The opening half is uneven, and Benoit's early exit plus Maven's delayed return create stretches where the teams feel more like moving parts than a cohesive contest. The match improves sharply once Snitsky's chair attack removes himself and Maven, leaving Jericho and Orton against Triple H and Edge. Edge's Spear accidentally catching Triple H creates the decisive opening, Orton eliminates Edge with an RKO, then counters the Pedigree and drops Triple H with another RKO to become sole survivor. Cleveland responds well to the finish, and Orton leaves with a stronger star image than he entered with. It is not an elite Survivor Series match, but its last several minutes deliver the night's clearest payoff.