Victory Road (2004)

The first match at Victory Road to air live on PPV was a twenty-man Gauntlet match, consisting of wrestlers who compete in TNA's X Division.[10] In this particular match, wrestlers were eliminated by being thrown over the top rope and down to the floor until there were two left in the ring. Those two men had a standard match until one was pinned or made to submit. The final two participants were Kazarian and Héctor Garza. Kazarian tried to pin Garza with a Cradle, but Garza countered the maneuver with a roll-up for the win.[11]

The second match was an Eight Man Tag Team match consisting of the team of Ron Killings, Erik Watts, Johnny B. Badd and Pat Kenney against the team of Kid Kash, Dallas, and The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens).[12] After various offensive maneuvers between the two teams, Killings pinned Stevens after a double underhook DDT.[13]

Monty Brown won the first-ever Monster's Ball match at Victory Road.

The third match was a lucha libre midget match between Mascarita Sagrada and Piratita Morgan.[14] Sagrada won the match when he pinned Morgan with a small package.[15]

A Tag Team match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship between the champions, Team Canada (Bobby Roode and Eric Young), and the 3Live Kru (B.G. James and Konnan) (3LK) followed.[10] The match went back and forth between the two teams with each taking advantage of the pace multiple times. The 3LK won the match and the championship by pinfall after Konnan lifted Roode up in the air, sitdown, and forced Roode's face into the mat.[11]

Trinity, who was accompanied by The New York Connection (NYC) pairing of Johnny Swinger and Glenn Gilberti, fought an unknown opponent in an open challenge by Trinity in the fifth bout.[12] Jacqueline Moore made her TNA debut and answered the challenge. During the match, NYC interfered on Trinity's behalf by distracting Moore to allow Trinity to perform the Fall from Grace from the top rope to gain the pinfall victory.[13]

TNA hosted the first ever Monster's Ball match, involving Monty Brown, Abyss, and Raven.[14] Throughout the match, the competitors used many different types of weapons, such as thumbtacks, chairs, and tables. Brown became the victor by pinning Raven after a Pounce.[15]

Petey Williams, who was accompanied by Coach D'Amore, defended the TNA X Division Championship against A.J. Styles in the following bout.[10] Williams retained the championship in the match by jumping off of the top rope and landing on his feet with Styles' head between his legs, connecting with the Canadian Destroyer. Williams followed by pinning Styles to win the encounter.[11]

Jeff Hardy fought for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Jeff Jarrett in a Ladder match at Victory Road.

America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) (AMW) fought Triple X (Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper) (XXX) in an Elimination Last Team Standing match in the next encounter.[12] Though the match was billed as a Last Team Standing match, it was held under Texas Death match rules. A Texas Death match is similar to a Last Team Standing match, however, the competitor must pin or make his opponent submit before the referee begins his count. Daniels pinned Storm following hitting him in the knee with a steel chair to begin the ten count, which Storm failed to make. Daniels was the second to be eliminated, failing to reach the ten count after being pinned following a top rope legdrop by Harris. With the outcome of the match down to the competition between Harris and Skipper, Harris hit Skipper with the Catatonic onto a steel chair. Harris then pinned Skipper to begin the ten count; Skipper did not get to his feet, giving the win to AMW.[13]

The poll results were announced for the Director of Authority between Dusty Rhodes and Vince Russo. Rhodes won the position over Russo with 55.6% of the popular vote.[14]

The main event was a Ladder match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, involving the champion, Jeff Jarrett, and the challenger, Jeff Hardy.[15] Scott Hall interfered with the match by hitting Hardy with the Outsider's Edge. While Hardy and Jarrett were both at the top of a ladder trying to grab the belt, Kevin Nash, an ally of Hardy's, entered the arena with two guitars over both of his shoulders and handed a guitar to Hall. The two men then began to bash Hardy with the guitars until Jarrett broke a guitar over Hardy's head. Jarrett then retrieved the championship belt from the holder above the ring to win the match.[10] Following the match, Jarrett, Nash, and Hall challenged the TNA roster to fight them. A.J. Styles and the 3Live Kru (Ron Killings, B.G. James, and Konnan) answered their challenge, but failed to win the fight. The video feed changed from the ring to a black limousine outside of the venue that showed a man in a black coat step out and walk into the arena. Randy Savage then made his debut in the company and walked to ringside as the event came to a close.[10]

The Canadian Online Explorer's writer Jason Clevett rated the entire event 5 out of 10,[10] which was lower than the 2006 event's rating of 5.5 out of 10.[18] The Elimination Last Team Standing match was rated a 0 out of 10, while main event match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship was rated a 5 out of 10.[10] Clevett stated in his review of the event that he thought the Elimination Last Team Standing match was "horrible".[10] He also felt that the NWA Championship match was a "sloppy ladder match".[10] TNA later released a DVD counting down the top 50 moments in their history, with Victory Road being ranked number 25.[19] The debut of Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Randy Savage were ranked higher than the event itself, with that moment ranking in at number 19.[19] The event was released on DVD on September 20, 2005 by TNA Home Video in a boxset which also included TNA's April 2005 PPV event, Lockdown, and the 2004 Turning Point event; the boxset was called the "TNA Anthology: The Epic Set"[20]

The tournament to crown the #1 contender for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship was held in October 2004.