What were the chances of Eddie guerrero winning in 04?

[ChitownKnight]

The other thread on Rusev kind of reminds me of Eddie winning the title in 2004, except the roles are reversed Rusev who is a popular act had a title shot before summerslam while Eddie another popular act had his title shot right before Wrestlemania. they both are going up against the franchise players (AJ and Brock). Now I highly doubt Rusev would win, but what did people think of eddies match against Brock? Did people think he had a chance of winning? I know Brock had the program with Goldberg but was it common knowledge that both would leave back then?

[Deleted]

I remember it feeling like a pretty foregone conclusion Eddie was going to win, honestly.

[BlackoutCreature]

Yeah, with the way the storylines were setting up heading into WrestleMania 20, it seemed pretty obvious that Eddie was going over Brock.

[Sparkybob]

After Angle won the triple threat match it only made sense for Eddie to win.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

I think a lot, upn always had a strong Hispanic audience so it made sense.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Brock vs. Goldberg was either going to be title vs. title, or none of the titles were going to be at stake. When Goldberg lost his WHC in December, it was natural that Brock would eventually drop his title so they could do Brock vs. Goldberg while having other title matches on the card. We also knew Goldberg was going to leave after Mania, so a title match would have been a foregone conclusion with Lesnar winning (well, at least until Brock announced his own departure, so thank goodness the titles weren't involved). If they were going to take the route of Goldberg challenging Lesnar for the WWE title by winning the Rumble, Goldberg would have won the Rumble, not Benoit, because the brand split was pretty rigid at this point. Mania XX was one of the first shows to really feature inter-promotional matches.

All of this means that Eddie was a pretty safe bet to beat Lesnar, and it was just a matter of how much credit Goldberg interference was going to get. Thankfully, it wasn't the direct finish, and that went to Eddie hitting a DDT onto the WWE title before the Frogsplash, which has allowed them to downplay Goldberg's role in the match when referencing Eddie's title win.

[cabbageboy]

Eddie's win came right before WM and at the time it seemed obvious he was getting the belt. That was a good match too, from a time when Lesnar actually put some pride in his work. Rusev now just seems like a filler challenger until AJ can move on to Joe for SS.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Jul 12, 2018 20:26:05 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I remember it feeling like a pretty foregone conclusion Eddie was going to win, honestly.

Yeah, from what I remember it was pretty much foregone that Eddie was winning as they were clearly setting up Brock vs. Goldberg by that point.

[Neo: "The One" who CLAPS]

Eddies my favorite wrestler, so I always wanted Heyman to mention that Eddie beat Brock in the build to the match with Goldberg. Hell, since Goldy was involved, that could’ve put more heat on their feud.

Since I was a mark at the time, I was scared and praying that Eddie would win. It was quite a shock to learn later that the match result wasn’t really in doubt.

[4real]

Putting the triple threat number one contenders match on the same night pretty much guaranteed Eddie was winning the belt. The only logical winner of the triple threat was Angle who had been teasing a feud with Eddie. Big Show & Cena were feuding with each other so neither were winning.

Looking back they probably should have scrapped the number one contender match or had a screwy finish.

[chronocross]

Once they announced that Goldberg was going to be at the No Way Out PPV with a ticket from Stone Cold, it was pretty obvious that Eddie was going to win, still it was a great moment and the fans were into it big time.

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

Jul 13, 2018 7:46:17 GMT -5 chronocross said:

Once they announced that Goldberg was going to be at the No Way Out PPV with a ticket from Stone Cold, it was pretty obvious that Eddie was going to win, still it was a great moment and the fans were into it big time.

Yup, this. But sometimes you can telegraph the hell out of a story, and it still comes off great. Benoit in 2004 was another example, the second Heyman made Benoit #1 in the Rumble, it was pretty obvious what they were building to but it was still great. Brock in 2003 was another obvious build and finish that was great