History of WWE
The two top stars of the Attitude Era, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, eventually left the company in 2003 and 2004 respectively, while newcomers such as Brock Lesnar, who would become the youngest WWE Champion and Randy Orton, who became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion, saw huge success. Triple H would also be featured prominently during this time, winning several of his fourteen world championships, as would The Undertaker whose WrestleMania win streak started gaining fame. Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Edge, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, John Cena, Batista, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, and Rob Van Dam were also given main event opportunities and all ended up becoming multiple-time world champions. From mid 2002 to 2003, WWE brought several prominent WCW stars to the company, including Eric Bischoff, Scott Steiner, Goldberg, Kevin Nash and Ric Flair. The Great American Bash, originally a WCW pay-per-view event, made its debut in WWE.
Unforgiven (2004)
Seven professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card beforehand, which were planned with predetermined outcomes by WWE's script writers. The buildup to these matches and scenarios that took place before, during and after the event were also planned by the script writers. The event featured wrestlers and other talent from Raw's brand – a storyline expansion in which WWE assigned its employees. Wrestlers portrayed either a villainous or fan favorite gimmick, as they followed a series of events which generally built tension, leading to a wrestling match.
The main feud heading into the event was between Randy Orton and Triple H over the World Heavyweight Championship. At the August pay-per-view event, SummerSlam, WWE's previous pay-per-view event, Orton defeated Chris Benoit to win the World Heavyweight Championship, thus making Orton the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history. On the August 16, 2004 edition of "Raw", one of WWE's primary television programs, Orton successfully retained the title in a rematch with Benoit. After the match, Evolution (Batista, Ric Flair, and Triple H), Orton's fellow stablemates, threw him a fake celebration, only to reveal that they were not pleased with his new victory. While Batista had Orton propped on his shoulders in elation, Triple H gave him a pleased thumbs up; Triple H, however, abruptly changed the thumbs up to a thumbs-down and told Batista to drop Orton to the mat. Flair and Batista then began to beat Orton in the ring as Triple H claimed that Orton was nothing without Evolution. Orton's break-up with Evolution began a new storyline for him as a fan favorite when he continued to feud with his former group members. On the August 23 edition of "Raw", after Orton refused to give Triple H the World title, Orton spat in Triple H's face and hit him with the title belt. General Manager Eric Bischoff then scheduled a match between the two for the World Heavyweight title at Unforgiven. The following week on "Raw", Eugene defeated Triple H in a singles match after Orton interfered and performed an RKO on Triple H. On the September 6 edition "Raw", Orton defeated Kane in a Steel Cage match, which Orton won by escaping the cage. Shortly after the match ended, Ric Flair and Batista came out and, along with Triple H, began attacking Orton. In an interview with the "Daily Star" in 2006, Orton revealed that WWE chairman, Vince McMahon, came up with the idea of having Orton be a fan favorite the day of SummerSlam. According to Orton, transforming into a fan favorite was "tough" because "no one bought it".