Unforgiven 2004
Date: September 12, 2004
Location: Rose Garden, Portland, Oregon
Attendance: 10,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
This is another case of a one match show, which tends to be the case in the HHH era. In this case it’s HHH getting (another) title shot against Randy Orton, who was thrown out of Evolution last month. It’s not exactly a thrilling concept but there’s no escaping HHH’s title hunts of destiny. Let’s get to it.
I thought I’d try something new on here, although more classic All Japan is also planned for down the line.
As the name suggests, I will be looking at certain shows or wrestlers and picking what I believe to be the six best matches in a given scenario. Seeing as summer is coming to a close and the autumn months are looming ahead of us, I thought I’d compile the six best matches from WWE’s Unforgiven pay per view. Though the first Unforgiven was held in the April of 1998, the following ten versions of it all took place in the month of September before WWE stopped using the name in 2008.
These are all just my personal opinions of course. If there’s a match I haven’t listed that you think I should have included in the top six then please feel free to say so in the comments. I’ll be listing the matches chronologically just for the sake of ease.
Unforgiven 2003
Date: September 21, 2003
Location: Giant Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 10,347
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
It’s another Raw exclusive pay per view, based around the idea of finding the least interesting story possible. Is it Shane McMahon and his electric testicles vs. Kane or a barely mobile HHH managing to drag out his second World Title defense against Goldberg? You know, that guy known for his long matches. There’s also the option of the battling announcers, which is always a big winner. Let’s get to it.
Unforgiven 2002
Date: September 22, 2002
Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Attendance: 16,000
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jim Ross, Tazz, Jerry Lawler
This isn’t exactly the most thrilling show in the world as the main events are Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar for the Smackdown World Title, HHH vs. Rob Van Dam for the Raw World Title and Billy and Chuck vs. 3 Minute Warning in the battle of the general managers. Yeah it’s not a good sign that we’re already doing interpromotional matches this soon on nothing pay per views. Let’s get to it.
We get to the Invasion angle here. RVD has won the Hardcore title and puts it on the line against Jericho. RVD’s overness was evident from the get go but yet they anchored him with The Alliance. I feel Jericho was getting rather stale as a babyface here, and would in fact turn heel not long after this in his feud with The Rock. Pretty good match between the two here, maybe even forgotten since this is the show where Angle beat Austin for the title.
The British Bulldog. Mankind. Triple H. Kane. The Big Show. The Rock. The referees were all on strike. Steve Austin was the special enforcer. The WWF Championship was around Abeyance’s waist and it was up for grabs due to Vince McMahon beating Triple H for the title on an episode of Smackdown and relinquishing it. The Undertaker was supposed to be in this match, but was kayfabe fired by Vince for refusing to face Triple H. This was also at the end of Russo’s time with the WWF. However, the resulting match was a near masterpiece, considering all the people involved. The video is in two parts, so make sure you watch both.