2004 killed SD dead. Trading HHH for Booker, RVD and the Dudleys then proceeding to do nothing with them was a massive headscratcher. I get they wanted to get their new gimmick heels over but Holly, Rico, Haas, Gunn etc was just the worst. Even if you made the argument that there was nobody else, you had Jericho, Kane, Benoit, Christian all doing very little of importance on Raw at the time. In fact, even without changing the roster you could get a better PPV out of this with similar stories.
Eddie vs JBL WWE title Bullrope (setup GM Angles heel turn here instead of SD to build the Summerslam match by having Luther Reigns interfere. After )
Undertaker vs Mordecai Concrete Crypt (have it revealed Paul Bearer sent Mordecai after him leading to a logical end to the shit gimmick and a logical reason for Taker to bury Paul Bearer in concrete)
John Cena vs Rene Dupree US title Flag Match (they ran this on SD and it was pretty lit)
RVD vs Booker T (start Bookers heel turn for the Taker feud here… actually pretty sure Booker turned heel on RVD in a tag on SD without any pay off…)
Rey vs Chavo (as is, was perfect with Chavo Classic)
Dudleys vs London/Spanky Tag titles
Kenzo Suzuki vs Hardcore Holly. Less than two minutes
Now its not the worst drawing WWE ppv of the 2000s
