CM Funk's Once a Day *IN DEPTH* Match Review

[The Mandarin 0]

Is there a good reason why your idea of "in-depth" is to tell us every single move, make a running tally of all the pins, and inform us of what's being said by the commentators? Doesn't sound "in-depth" to me as much as it does "boring and exhaustive".

Nope. That's why I decrease the text size so they're easier to skim through.

 

Next review will be up tomorrow.

[The Mandarin 0]

Cage match, escape, pinfall or submission- Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle

Date/Place- Richmond, VA- 6/11/01

Ref- ??

Commentators- Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler and Steve Austin[/size]

 

Chris Benoit was in line for a title shot at the upcoming King of the Ring PPV. His opponents were Chris Jericho and the reigning WWF Champion, Steve Austin. Steve's out there doing commentary for this match. Chris Benoit's opponent in the cage is Kurt Angle, and this is technically the blowoff to their feud that had lasted since a bit before WrestleMania X-7.

 

Character Related Info: Kurt Angle's the arrogant heel while Benoit's the good guy who doesn't say much.

 

What this match is most known for: The two big spots off the top of the cage

 

The Match: The bell rings and Angle darts and takes Benoit down as soon as he gets in the cage. He goes for a german but Benoit avoids it so Angle goes for an irish whip and stops short and hits a belly-to-belly suplex. He repeats this a second time. When he goes for the third, Angle's almost put in the Crippler Crossface but he rolls out. He charges at Benoit and is almost put back in, but he gets out again. Benoit still has the arm but is sent face first into the cage by Angle. Angle sends him into the other side of the cage and then Benoit's knocked down. Angle stomps him and Benoit retreats to the corner where Angle punches and kicks. But Benoit switches and Angle's put in the corner where he gets the shit chopped out of him. Angle then reverses a Benoit irish whip but Benoit puts his foot up and continues to chop Kurt. He then irish whips Angle into the corner and goes to..uh..jump on him?--but gets elevated face first into the cage corner. Ouch. Angle rams his face into the steel again and then stomps on him while he's down. Angle then sends him into another piece of the cage and picks him up but Benoit fights back with chops and kicks and then snap suplexes Angle twice. He goes for a third but Angle gets kneed in the gut and gut wrench suplexed. Angle waits for him to get up and repeats it again. He does it a third time and starts climbing the cage. He gets on the middle of the top rope and hangs on but Benoit gets up and chases after him. Benoit tries to pull him down but he kicks him off so Benoit eventually gets up and positions himself right behind Angle and tries to do a german suplex. Angle won't let go so Benoit continues to beat on him and eventually germans him right on the back of his neck. Daaamn. Benoit looks at Angle and starts climbing the cage but Angle snaps up and tries to take him down to the mat with..uh..something. It was supposed to be a blocked belly to belly suplex off the top, but it looked quite ugly. Angle pushes him to the mat and then drops a big elbow. They both get up after a pause, and start giving eachother blows to the head. Angle gets sent into the cage and his face is mushed into the steel. He does a backwards roll, gets up and takes another dive into the cage. Then he gets sent one more time shoulder first. Benoit starts climbing the cage but Angle runs up and low blows Benoit so he falls down. Angle picks Benoit up and hits the Angle Slam. Angle then starts climbing one of the corners and goes for a moonsault-- but stops, and goes up to the top of the cage(!) and tries to MOONSAULT onto Benoit--but it misses! Daaamn! Angle landed stomach first, so Benoit takes advantage of that by sending Angle into the ropes several times and letting him run gut-first into his knee. So he tries it a third time but Angle reverses it and sends Benoit into the cage. Angle picks Benoit up and throws him like a dart into the cage. Well, he didn't really toss him. Anyways, Benoit is picked up but sends Angle into the cage and then starts doing german suplexes. Benoit hits one..two..Angle tries to block number three, but Benoit does it anyways and keeps going until six. Benoit goes for the door but Angle tries to splash onto him but Benoit has him scouted and moves out of the way so Angle hits the door. Angle gets hit with three more german suplexes for a total of nine. Benoit climbs up the cage and looks to go over until Austin gets up and starts goin' bonkers, slamming a steel chair into the cage and making threats in Benoit's direction. So Benoit decides it's safer to turn around and do a diving headbutt off the top of the cage onto Angle. ..smart. Austin's yelling instructions at Angle while Benoit tries to recover. Angle's still not moving and Benoit goes for the door but Austin blocks it for Benoit. So Benoit dropkicks the door and it hits Austin in the face. Angle gets up and goes for the Anglelock but Benoit doesn't tap and Angle eats an enziguri. Benoit starts going for the open door but gets it in the face from Austin. So Angle's like "screw that shit" and doesn't dare mess with Austin. So he climbs the cage, up and over, and it's done.

 

Winner: Kurt Angle

 

Austin kinda destroys Benoit with chairshots.

 

What resulted out of this: Benoit lost his match at King of the Ring and eventually had to get neck surgery that kept him out a year.

 

My review: Very good match that didn't go as long as I had expected. It was kind of generic cage match offense at parts, but the german suplexes were painful looking as always and the highspots were amazing. Not the best of their series (WM, Backlash 30 Min. Iron Man, JD 2/3 Falls), but still very solid. ***3/4

 

Next Up:

 

Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart- Owen Tribute

or

Shawn Michaels vs. Mick Foley- Mind Games

[Guest Undying Fury]

Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart - Owen Tribute

[The Mandarin 0]

One fall, Owen Hart Tribute Match- Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit

Date/Place- Kansas, MO- 10/4/99

Ref- Mickey Jay

Commentators- Tony Schiavonae, Mike Tenay and Bobby Heenan[/size]

 

After Owen Hart's tragic death earlier in the year, Bret Hart wanted to have a tribute match in the name of his brother. He chose Chris Benoit as his opponent, and the match was on.

 

Character Related Info: Everybody's a face here.

 

What this match is most known for: Being a great tribute to Owen.

 

The Match: After a lengthy intro, the match begins. They lock up and Benoit gets him in a headlock. Bret reverses it into a cradle and he gets 1. Benoit goes back to the headlock and Bret gets out of it and he's got him in a hammerlock. Benoit twirls out of it and he's got Bret's arm locked up until Bret moves out of it and now the situation is reversed. Bret goes to the headlock and Benoit takes a knee. Benoit sends Bret off the ropes where he comes back with a shoulder takedown. He bounces off the ropes and avoids Benoit who's flat on his stomach, Benoit leapfrogs over Bret and tries to monkeyflip him, but Bret holds on to the ropes and Benoit can't do it. Bret waits for Benoit to get up.

 

Back to the stalemate, and they do a test of strength. Bret overpowers Benoit, but Benoit gets back up and kicks him in the stomach. Benoit goes into a wristlock and drives the knee into the back. Benoit and Bret get back up and he's got the hammerlock on. Bret goes down to his stomach and he's got Bret in a bow and arrow submission and he drives his head into the back. Bret reverses and now Benoit's in the position Bret once was. Benoit backs up Bret into the ropes and he flips out with a dropkick. He then snapmares Bret out of the ropes and goes for a headlock but Bret reverses into a russian legsweep. He sends Benoit into the corner, does a snapmare and puts him in the chinlock. Benoit gets back up and elbows Bret in the gut a few times, but Benoit leapfrogs over Bret, who gets back up and Benoit runs right into Bret's knee. They go to the corner and Bret uppercuts Benoit several times. Bret then headbutts Benoit and hammers on his head. Benoit comes back with a kick to the gut and chops. Bret's pissed, so he hits a DDT and goes to the middle rope with a fistdrop. That gets 2. Bret sends him into the ropes and goes to knee him again but Benoit rolls through for 2, but Benoit picks him up into a really cool boston crab. The move's eventually broken and Benoit sends him into the ropes with a back body drop. That gets 1. Backbreaker by Benoit. That gets 2. Commercial break.

 

We come back and Benoit drops an elbow onto Bret. Benoit misses a second time and Bret takes advantage by dropping a knee into Benoit's nads. Amazing snap suplex by Bret. That gets 2. Bret hits a backbreaker on Benoit and then drops knees on him that send Benoit out of the ring. Bret picks Benoit up on the outside and then rams his abdomen into the ring. They get a nice clear shot-- of the cameraman. Great. Bret looks to go for the Sharpshooter on the inside? No, he just kicks Benoit in the gourd. Benoit leans on the ropes and Bret uppercuts him. Bret goes to send Benoit into the ropes for a tilt-a-whirl but Benoit reverses out of that and hits a tombstone! Beautiful. That gets two. The ten count starts for both guys. Benoit gets up and hits a northern lights suplex. The bridge gets two. Benoit hammers on Bret. Benoit with a nasty kick to Bret's abdomen. Benoit sends him off the ropes and Bret eats the knee. That gets 2 for Benoit. Benoit picks him up and sends Bret headfirst into the turnbuckle. Bret gets chopped in the turnbuckle. Benoit sends Bret into the ropes where he tries for a dropkick, but Bret the genius holds onto the ropes and Benoit lands on his neck/shoulders. Bret gets the advantage and hits a beautiful back suplex. That gets 2. Bret backs Benoit onto the ropes and starts layin' in punches. Bret goes to dive onto him but Benoit ducks and Bret gets whiplashed by the ropes. Bret is backed out and he just STANDS there and waits for a suicide dive from Benoit. Alright, that was a bit corny. Commercial.

 

Bret has the advantage now and while Benoit stands on the apron outside the ropes, Bret pounds on him from the inside. Bret tries to suplex him back in, but Benoit gets behind him and reverses into a rollup. That gets 2, so Bret does one of his own. That gets 2. Bret headbutts Benoit and chokes him out with his boot in the corner. Bret picks him up and goes for an uppercut, but Benoit does a beautiful reversal into a backslide. Bret hammers on him and headbutts Benoit's back. Benoit gets picked up and almost suplexed, but he reverses into a cradle. That gets 2 for Benoit. Bret takes the lead and hits a swinging neckbreaker. That gets 2 for Bret. Bret sends Benoit into the corner and we're in the midst of the Five Moves of Doom. But the superplex is blocked! That REALLY pisses Bret off, so he nails Benoit in the face and hits it. That'll learn ya. The ten count starts and Bret gets up and goes for the Sharpshooter! But it's reversed into the crossface! Drama! Bret's close to the ropes so he gets out. Three amigos by Benoit. Benoit signals for the Diving Headbutt and gets booed. Haw. The headbutt-- connects! Beautiful. That gets one--two--no. Close. Benoit picks him back up and hits a nice back suplex. Benoit drops an elbow into the chest. Benoit's ashamed that people are chanting for Bret. So Benoit picks him up and sends him off the ropes but Bret reverses into a back elbow. Bret now picks him up and hits a beautiful piledriver. Bret rolls him closer to the ropes so he can put his foot on them. So obviously, it gets 2. Back suplex after Benoit gets sent sternum first into the ropes, but Benoit reverses out of it and lays in the chops. Benoit sends Bret back first into the ropes but eats Bret's foot. But Benoit hits a german on him and rolls through for two. The third is blocked by Bret, but Benoit goes for it until Bret goes for a swipe to the face and Benoit ducks into the northern lights. That doesn't work when Bret pounds on Benoit's already hurt back. Bret walks into an attempted crossface, but it's never reached and Bret reverses into the sharpshooter! Beautiful.

 

Winner: Bret Hart

 

They hug after the match.

 

What resulted out of this: Benoit went to the WWF a few months later while Bret was forced to retire due to head injuries.

 

My review: Awesome, awesome match. The ending and aftermath was a classic feel-good moment in wrestling. Some may say Bret rolling Benoit towards the ropes and standing there for the plancha exposed the business(!), but still. Major props to Tony for saying that if the match ends during the break, they'll show the footage. You never see Jim Ross doing that; it makes it look more believable. Anyways, the match is close to perfect. It's too bad there had to be an "Owen Hart Tribute Match", because he never should have died in the first place. ****1/2

 

Since it's MY birthday tomorrow, I'll pick the next match. Hint: it's from the Rey Mysterio DVD, and it's really, really good.

[Guest KempoMRK]

Is this over now then? It's just I was really enjoying the reviews.