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WrestleMania XX was a WWE Wrestling PPV event that took place on Sunday, March 14, 2004 in New York City, NY at the famous arena, Madison Square Garden. The slogan for Wrestlemania XX was "Where It All Begins Again".
It was the twentieth Wrestlemania event to take place since the first one took place on March 31, 1985. In celebration of this event, WWE returned to the city and arena where the first Wrestlemania took place: in New York City at Madison Square Garden.
The build up to Wrestlemania XX started almost immediately following Wrestlemania XIX the previous year. Billed as The Road to Wrestlemania XX, advertising had run during WWE shows and PPV events. Also, if one ordered a WWE PPV event (including Wrestlemania XX itself), they could get free Wrestlemania XX collectible cards.
Wrestlemania XX was a joint-promotion PPV event, featuring wrestlers from both WWE RAW and Smackdown! In fact, in a first during the Brand Extension storyline, WMXX featured cross-promotion matches, in which wrestlers from both "promotions" fought each other.
The card for the event follows, with results.
Torrie Wilson and Sable were representing SmackDown!; Stacy Keibler and Jackie Gayda were representing [[WWE RAW|RAW.
Before the match got underway, Torrie Wilson, Stacy Keibler and Sable voluntarily stripped down to bra and panties. Jackie Gayda teased doing the same, but eventually had to be "persuaded" to do so by the other divas.
As an aside, when Ultimo Dragon made his ring entrance, he immediately slipped and fell down on the stage. This rather embarrassing moment was covered up by a wide-angle shot on the DVD release of the event.
During this entire match, both Goldberg and Brock, both scheduled to leave WWE after Wrestlemania 20, were booed, heckled and jeered by the New York crowd, who even began chanting for Hulk Hogan as the match disintergrated into a mess. They deserved it. Match was terrible.
This feud began shortly after Eddie Guerrero began encountering serious jealousy-related conflicts in his teaming with his nephew, Chavo. Kurt Angle interjected himself, saying he refused to stand by and watch one of the greatest tag-teams in WWE history fall apart. He told them to do the right thing and shake hands, and both men did so, although it was clear they still didn't fully trust one another.
Later that evening on SmackDown!, Los Guerreros went after the WWE Tag Team Championship held by The Basham Brothers, Doug and Danny. The Bashams cheated to win by pinning Chavo, who was immediately thrown from the ring. Then The Bashams, along with their Amazonian manager Shaniqua, proceeded to beat the crap out of Eddie. Chavo grabbed a steel chair and looked like he was about to intervene, but instead sat down with a deranged look on his face and watched the beating unfold.
Afterward, Chavo made Eddie believe he was going to help him up, but instead Chavo spat in his face and attacked his uncle.
The long and short of it is, this led to a match between the Guerreros at the 2004 Royal Rumble, which was won by Eddie Guerrero-- but because Eddie was participating in a singles match at the Rumble, he was unable to participate in the actual Royal Rumble match itself. Kurt Angle, meanwhile, entered at #19 and, as it turned out, was the penultimate wrestler eliminated from the ring. Chris Benoit, then with SmackDown!, won the Royal Rumble.
But Benoit promptly left the brand and joined RAW to compete for that brand's World Heavyweight Title instead of SmackDown's WWE Championship. This left SmackDown without a #1 contender, so General Manager Paul Heyman, to appease his boss Vince McMahon, ordered a SmackDown-exclusive Royal Rumble match to determine who would get a WWE Championship shot against Brock Lesnar at No Way Out in February.
Prior to the Rumble match, Eddie Guerrero was attacked backstage by persons unknown; widely presumed to be Chavo Guerrero, Jr. and Chavo Guerrero. Eddie's ability to compete in the match was seriously in question.
Kurt entered the match at #1, and Eddie, noticably hobbling, entered at #13. As it turned out, these two men would be the last men remaining in what was a stellar main-event, and Eddie Guerrero scored the improbable upset by eliminating the four-time former WWE Champion. Kurt's reaction upon losing was legitimate anger and frustration, in contrast to the friendly demeanor with which he'd outwardly treated Eddie in recent months. But at the time, it could've just been attributed to Kurt's competitiveness.
Eddie went on to defeat Brock Lesnar at No Way Out to win the WWE Championship, while Kurt scored the victory in a triple-threat match against John Cena and The Big Show to win the right to face Eddie at WrestleMania XX.
But not long afterward, Kurt's true motivations were revealed when he attacked Eddie during a title defense against Chavo. It turns out that in reality, Kurt was working to deliberately break up the Guerreros and get them to fight each other at the Rumble, preventing Eddie from entering the Royal Rumble Match. But after Benoit's defection meant a second Rumble for SmackDown-only superstars, Kurt had been the one to attack Eddie backstage, in an unsuccessful attempt to stop him from competing.
Later, when Eddie won the WWE Championship, Kurt Angle felt he had no choice but to take action in front of the cameras. Eddie Guerrero, Kurt said, is a former drug addict, and therefore had no business being WWE Champion. In addition, Eddie was notorious for "lying, cheating and stealing" his way to victory, and the fans loved him for it. Therefore, Kurt felt that for the good of the company, he had to restore the belt to a man who would give it honor and integrity once more-- namely, himself.
Of course, Kurt has an on-camera reputation for being duplicitious, so it's just as likely that Kurt simply wanted the WWE Championship, and was willing to go to any means to win it without Eddie getting in his way.
Later, SmackDown! general manager Paul Heyman demanded that Eddie Guerrero issue a public apology for his behavior, and Eddie refused. Heyman yelled, "I wish I was in a position to slap some sense into you myself!" Eddie retorted, "You couldn't beat me if I had both hands tied behind my back!" So Heyman booked himself in a match against Eddie in which the champion's hands would be handcuffed behind his back. Regardless of this, Eddie Guerrero used his legs to beat the crap out of Paul Heyman, who retreated-- but Kurt Angle arrived on the scene, and beat the living daylights out of the defenseless WWE CHampion.
During the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania, Eddie and Kurt traded the momentum back-and-forth. Eddie hit his signature Frogsplash, which only earned a near-fall, and on multiple occasions Eddie was able to escape Kurt's excruciating Ankle Lock.
Late in the match, Eddie escaped the Ankle Lock, knocking Kurt Angle to the ringside floor in the process, and began unlacing his boot, ostensibly to massage it into working again. Kurt got up, his face a mask of rage, prompting the still-down Eddie to exclaim, "Oh, shit!"
Eddie made a beeline for the ropes, but Kurt was faster, and he trapped Eddie in the Ankle Lock. Eddie tried desperately to kick his way out of it with his free foot, and in the process his boot came off-- just as he'd intended. The distraction enabled Eddie to roll his opponent up for the pinfall, and Eddie Guerrero retained the WWE Championship.
This was the return of The Undertaker in his old persona from his Dead Biker gimmick after he was "buried alive" by Kane in Survivor Series 2003. The Undertaker began to play mind games with Kane from January through various video footages proclaiming that he would return. He finally did at Wrestlemania XX, however the bout was extremely disappointing. It was clearly meant to symbolize a dominating victory for The Undertaker upon his return, and did very little to help Kane.
On the other hand, The Undertaker's entrance, complete with torch-wielding druids, the trademark "vintage The Undertaker" theme and the return of RAW)
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