WWE Match Reviews

[Guest Ray]

I maintain that I suck at reviews, but this is a nice little match that deserves more attention.

 

Brock Lesnar vs. Chuck - Smackdown 2002

This was only 6:30, but it might have been JIP. It's actually a pretty good match. Lesnar is a BEAST, clobbering his opponent and towering over his fallen body. That's a truly imposing sight. Starts with shoulder thrusts and an uppercut, then Chuck reverses a whip and comes back with a spinning punch and a boot to the chest. He tries it again but Brock takes him down with a big lariat. The match is mostly Lesnar dominating with stuff like shoulder thrusts, stomps and knees to the gut/back, lariats, and a belly to belly and a verticle suplex. To keep hope alive, Chuck makes little comebacks every now and then, with nice punches to the gut. Chuck elbows Brock in the gut and runs the ropes, but Brock just picks him up, turns him upside down and slams him into the turnbuckle. Brock does a shoulder thrust as he's in the tree of woe. Brock tries it again, but Chuck blocks it with his feet! Great counter. Then Brock, frustrated, charges at him. Chuck ducks and sends him into the post. Then Chuck gets revenge with his own shoulder thrusts (and some great punches) and a belly-to-belly! Woooo, revenge spots~! Brock dodges a spinning punch (which Chuck hit earlier in the match~!!~ learned move psych~!), but Chuck nails him with two superkicks. Hot nearfall off that. Chuck tries another belly-to-belly suplex, but it's blocked and Brock turns it into his own suplex! Brock yells "Come onnnn!" and I'm in awe of him. Brock picks him up for a rib breaker - then in an amazing feat of strenght, tosses Chuck over his head, followed by the F-5 for the win. Really good match. Probably the best Brock vs random opponent match from Smackdown.

 

Come back Brock.

[Guest NiTR0]

Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio, SmackDown! (26/8/04)

I love this match. Partly because I'm liking Angle's new style, but they do one or two beautiful transitions, and make full use of Mysterio size and agility. They work a good big vs. small man match, but also play off previous matches in the past.

 

They started of the match on the mat, with Angle just killing Mysterio, even picking him up and drop him on the ground, and doing pin attempts with ease. Now in previous matches, Angle would ride Mysterio and basicaly just take the piss out of him on the mat. He'd gloat and even disrespect Rey about being small. But unlike in the past, he knows Rey can more than hold his own against Heavyweights, so he doesn’t gloat. When Rey manages to weave his way out of the situation, he gloats like he has done in previous matches between the two, when he has shown he is on Angle's level, but after, instead of Mysterio hitting high flying moves and Angle getting frustrated, Angle just remains focused, and brings his offence back to the mat. I liked how they added the small touches to the match. It makes it more sweet.

 

They go back to the mat, where again Angle grounds Mysterio with a front face lock, but they get back to their feet, and Mysterio surprisingly has the strength to pick up Angle and slam him on the mat. He even manages to shoulder tackle Angle down, and then moves back to a headlock predicament. Now, here we see Angle pissed as he slams his fit on the mat in frustration. Rey instead of hitting a sequence of high flying moves, goes back to Angle to show he can hang with him. Here instead of Angle countering the headlock, he just uses his strength to hit a back body drop.

 

A. It shows his frustration

B. It works as it also demonstrates that he has a strength advantage over Mysterio.

Now we get a situaion where Angle strikes Mysterio, showing his anguish at not putting Mysterio away on the mat. He irish whips Mysterio, and is countered by a head scissors to the outside. Now, instead of Rey attempting to counter with a wrestling hold to beat Angle on the mat. We get Rey using his size to advantage. He basically relises he can’t beat Angle at his game, so he needs to bring the match to hiss offence.

 

Sadly, we are met with a commercial creak (damn television breaks, this should have been the main event, would have given match the last segment), but we are returned with Angle having Mysterio on the mat in a submission, with his knee in Rey’s back and stretching Rey’s neck into his body. Nothing much occurs next. Pretty much your heel beatdown, but adding to the story of grounding the highflying opponent. I liked a touch where Angle can’t wait to gloat when he hits a belly-to-belly-suplex. There’s even a Release German suplex that span Mysterio in the air. (Want examples; watch Angle/Lesnar, Wrestlemania XIX or Angle/Benoit, Royal Rumble 2003).

 

Rey’s comeback starts with striking his way out of a bearhug, and features a nice counter to the Angleslam with an armdrag. There was one problem I had with Mysterio’s offence. He hit a sit down springboard moonsault, but he bounced on all three ropes, which seemed like an eternity. I just felt Angle didn’t suffer enough offence to sell being on the ground that long. A beautiful transition comes with Angle attempting a fireman’s carry, but Mysterio flips over and lands on his feet, and Angle is met with a dropkick to the face.

 

An added touch that I liked with Mysterio’s comeback, was how they worked the 619. Instead of just having a lazy dropkick to the back, and bam 619, we got Angle countering the 619, and then going for an Angleslam, but is then countered again into an arm drag, and a dropkick to the back. However Angle still catches Rey when Rey went for the spring board ‘ranna, and turned it into a powerbomb. But Rey kicked out. Here I thought Rey could have a chance of winning.

 

Angle’s straps come down, and he’s pissed, he goes for another Angle slam, but like on the other two occasions, Rey counters it, but he uses a different one, and a nice one as well.

 

Finish comes when Rey jumps off the top rope, but Angle catches him again, but Rey tries a roll up pin, but Angle’s to big and strong and held on for the three.

 

This is defiantly my TV MOTY, and up there with the best matches this year. Behind Lesnar/Guerrero and Benoit/Michaels/HHH, but I’d probably have it third or fourth.

 

***1/2-***3/4

[Guest wildpegasus]

CHRIS BENOIT vs BROCK LESNAR Smackdown 03

 

I just did this from memory so if I made any mistakes just tell me.

 

 

 

From memory I'll take a stab on why this match is on my favourites list for WWE/WWF matches.

 

Intensity which I'm such a big fan of. Flow too and this match just went so smoothly for me. Always a fan of the big man vs the small man as well. It institutes an immediate story into matches.

 

Start from the top here. Always a fan of what the human body can do I'm already physced up for this bout as soon as Benoit comes down to the ring. It's why I'm such a big fan of one night tournaments -- I like to see people take it to the edge physically. I can sympthasize more with their struggle more. Lesnar starts the match aggresively attacking Benoit as soon as he steps into the ring because Lesnar's fresh and Benoit's worn down from facing Cena earlier on in the bout. Nice touch there. Simple but simple is often the best stragety

 

Benoit gets back on the offensive when he armdrags Lesnar 3 times and clotheslines him over the top rope. In that sequence we see that Lesnar hesitates before deciding to go over on the 3rd armdrag showing me that this match was indeed done on the fly. I kind of like matches on the fly so that probably got me liking the match a little bit better right there.

 

Lesnar regains control and goes into the heel beatdown the face portion of the match. This part of the match I thought was done really well with Lesnar keeping things going along smoothly with shoulderblocks into Benoit's stomach in the corner and hitting Benoit with a tiltawhirl backbreaker. Always a cool move to watch I liked how Benoit got a little comeback tease coming in before running into the tiltawhirl.

 

We then go to commercial I believe and come back with Lesnar hooking Benoit with a submission hold on the mat. After another brief comeback (correct me if I'm wrong) Benoit goes for the same clothesline he hit against Lesnar earlier in the contest. This time Lesnar ducks and Benoit goes spilling to the outside of the ring since Lesnar was prepared for that move because had nailed it earlier on him.

 

Now comes my favourite part of the match. Benoit's struggling on the outside of the ring after Lesnar had violently irish whipped him into the steel stairs. He's hurting getting up (great selling by Benoit here) but baby this is Chris Benoit and he's not going to take that garbage laying down. In a superb spot and one that caught me completely off guard Benoit drags Lesnar out of the ring and proceeds to nail him with forearm after forearm. Like I said before I LOVE intensity and Benoit is super intense here with those forearms and in a revenge spot nails Lesnar with the irish whip into the steel steps giving the heel his just deserts.

 

Lesnar's selling is fantastic here on impact here and he sells it like his back is seizing up on him. This is important because not only is it a super visual but it sets up the next portion of the match where Lesnar has to get breathing room from Benoit and starts to "run away" from him. I loved that because it put Benoit over so much to have a big monstor running away from him. See, what's also tremendous about this is it prolongs the face comeback. Ever since we entered the heel beatdown the face portion of the bout (heel control segment) Benoit's been getting his comebacks. At first it's just a little bit but it grows each time so we the fans have more faith that Benoit's going to eventually make that comeback. Our anticipation is growing for that comeback as well. So here we have Benoit making his biggest comeback yet during Brock's control segment where we finally get Benoit making a substansail comeback and we're all thinking. "Yes this is it. Benoit's back on the comeback trail."

 

Brock's on the run which even gives us more anticipation time for the comeback than normal. Benoit's following him. All's right with the world. But noooo, in another spot I love Lesnar cuts off Benoit with an elbow to the face catching Benoit coming in. Adored that spot. Not only was Benoit's longest comeback cut off but it was done in a real slick way. Benoit believing he has the "coward" on the line gets just a touch overconfident and lets Lesnar just nail him. The big monstor that is Lesnar is not quite dead and this spot here makes sure nobody forgets it.

 

Now Lesnar hits a "deadweight" german suplex which I don't think has ever been done in the WWE. Not only does he hit it but he throws Benoit a considerable distance across the ring!! Lesnar the monstor proves he is very much so as he hits a herculean test of strength and finishes off Benoit's comeback for good. Benoit puts the new move over big time by literally allowing his head to bounce off of the mat in a very dangerous spot.

 

At this point it looks pretty dim for Benoit. After that we have Lesnar running into the turbuckles intensly (Hey, there's that word again) after Benoit only for a weakened Benoit to hit 3 trademark german suplexes which look so awesome because of the size difference. Hit very intensly we are now officialy out of the heel control segment.

 

The crowd erupts for Benoit's stuff here not only because the germans are a cool move hit with passion late in the match but because they and I have been longing for Benoit's true comeback for so long. And they do when Benoit hits the headbutt off of the top rope where the crowd is literally standing on their feet. That's what wrestling is all about. Making your moves mean something.

 

Now going into the final stretch of the bout Lesnar starts frantically clothesling Benoit only for Benoit to put him into a crossface or so we think. Benoit gets him down part way only for Lesnar to simply not go down all the way because of his power advantage. Again reinforcing the fact that Lesnar is the monstor in this particular bout and Benoit the smaller man always has his work cut out from him. Lesnar picks him up but Benoit holds on and spins Lesnar back down into the crossface. (Innovative stuff there, which is another reason why this match rules) A good false tease there that had some cool, new counters, reinforced that Lesnar was stronger than Benoit and a sequence that made the fans pop more than they would have if Benoit had taken Lesnar down no problem into the crossface.

 

During that sequence of moves we had the refferee taken out which would normally make me groan out loud but it wasn't too bad here. It allowed me and the fans to curse the WWE for not allowing Benoit to win the title, it gave Lesnar an escape out of the crossface without actually breaking it and I'd say it partly gave Lesnar reason to snap after the match. Lesnar than hits the F-5 with an added twist as Benoit lands on his back, goes for the cover but only gets two as Benoit kicks out. A super near fall there as me and the fans I believe are conditioned to seeing Benoit never kick out of finishers. This time he did.

 

Brock loses it after that becasue the F-5 is his big move and decides to go out to get a chair because he knows he can't beat the Canadian crippler. Brock swings at Benoit's leg to weaken him up for what he promised to do beforehand. Make Benoit tap out. So he goes for one of the coolest and most evil looking finishers I've ever seen. The BrockLock. Lesnar sits down on Benoit but Benoit won't give up and proceeds to pass out from the pain. Benoit's desire had grown from the Rumble. There was no way he was going to give up this time because that title meant everything to him.

 

 

So just a great match throughout. Very, very intense the whole way through, had more of a realistic feel than most WWE matches, was emotional, had some innovative moves, a finish that was truly memoarable and a superb heel control segment in the middle portions of the bout. This bout definitely seemed to be a setup bout for the future as well because the way this bout went it was designed for future rematches to play off of.

 

The only possable "negative" part of the match would be the missed clotheslines but even that wasn't too bad since Lesnar did hit one early in the match and the attempted clotheslines he hit at the end of the bout kept the intensity high and the flow of the match running smoothly

 

 

 

EDIT

 

Just wanted to talk some more about this match as I was just thinking today about multistage transistions and just plain old 1 move transistions. Multistage transistions are usually cited by people as making a match superior than a match with simple 1 move transistions. And a lot of times that's true but not all the time.

 

In Benoit vs Eddie 11/18/95 there is a tremendous sequence where Benoit and Eddie do the ultimate 1 upmanship battle that ends up with a Benoit clothesline. Perhaps my favourite sequence of moves of all time it added greatly to the match as it fit in so nicely with the 1 upmanship/advanced wrestling/moveset story they were doing that particular night. A one move or a couple of 1 move manuevers wouldn't be as good here and would've hurt the match severely. All about timing I guess.

 

Now I want to take a look at one of my favourite 1 hit moves of all time. The Brock Lesnar elbow to the face which I absolutely LOVE. As I've cited before in the past Benoit was on a comeback trail during the "Brock beat down Benoit" portion of the match. Benoit's comebacks became bigger and bigger until the point where he actually gets the monstor Lesnar on the run. Benoit's confidence is growing and as a result he just gingerly walks in on a beat down Lesnar who's partly slumping in the corner. However, it was all a setup as Lesnar just nails the overconfident Benoit with an elbow to the face. Now this is an example where a 1 move sequence would be better than a multi stage transistional comeback. If say they did something like -- Benoit ducks elbow, goes behind brock, goes for northern lights but can't lift Lesnar up, Lesnar counters with attempted Canadian backbreaker, Benoit lands on his feet staggers a bit until Lesnar with an elbow -- than it would've partlyruint the story and the flow of the match. The 1 hit elbow to Benoit's face was necessary to show that A)Benoit's overconfidence cost him 2)that Lesnar set Benoit up and 3)that the big monstor was never quite tamed and was always ready to strike. Anything more complex would've diluted what Lesnar and Benoit were doing.

 

 

Awhile ago I was watching a fun match between Kobashi and Akyima from sometime in 96 I believe. Now while the match was fun and full of great multistage transistions it just had plain out too many of them. Seeing a sequence of counter after counter is often enthralling to watch but the problem here was that it was done so often during this partiuclar bout it lost all meaning. All the well thought out sequences didn't mean anything because there wasn't anything more "simple" to show how great there countering was. It's kind of like how the mat sections of the New Japan junior matches build up the excitement for the ending portions by letting the match climax. You need something a little bit more tamer than what you're doing at other sections to let your match build and climax. Which brings me to Benoit vs Lesnar. Benoit vs Lesnar didn't do any fancy countering (although they did do some countering that I loved)until Benoit ducks Lesnar's clothesline and attempts to put him into the crossface before finally procuring it a little bit later. By not having any counter, counter, counter, counter stuff in the beginning it allowed this sequence to really mean something. It stands out more and the sequence becomes more entrenched in our memories.

 

That same sequence was also superb in that it showed that Lesnar was still indeed the monstor. Not only the multi stage transistion at the end stand out but it showed Benoit's technical genius and at the same time Lesnar's prevailing power. All in one sequence. Fantastic.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Two words.

 

PARAGRAPH.SPACING.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Two words.

 

PARAGRAPH.SPACING.

I was thinking about paragraph spacing when I initially wrote that but got way too lazy.

 

There, I fixed it up a little bit for you buddy.

[Guest wildpegasus]

BENOIT vs ANGLE ROYAL RUMBLE 03

 

 

Thought I'd give my thoughts on this. Beware though, it's going to be long winded.

 

 

I liked this more the 2nd time I watched than the first time. A lot of what someone gets out of this match is the way you look at it. Looked at from the perspective of what the match is and not what someone wants it to be makes it a better match. Basically it's about a technical/oneupmanship battle between the top two technical superstars in the WWE and one man's quest to obtain this championship. If you watch the match looking at it from that perspective which I believe you should because that's what they were going for I think everybody will enjoy it more.

 

 

The match starts off well enough and turns into a good solid bout. The highlights being some good work by Benoit trying to obtain the sharpshooter on Angle so he can test out his knee which to this point had not really been tested since Angle was only in one bout since recovering from his injury. Similar to the sharpshooter work in Benoit vs Kane from Bad Blood here we have Benoit going for the sharpshooter three times before obtaining it. First time - Angle completely avoids it, 2nd time -- Benoit gets closer to getting it in and the 3rd time he's succesful. Good work there. As a result of all this we now see Angle's knee is indeed healed up which we suspected from the previous Smackdown where Angle was using it with no problems and the rumours from the lockerroom which said Angle was milking the injury. So now it's time to swith battleplans. Good storytelling there. A good start but I don't think it was a truly great start.

 

So now we're at the part of the match where ANgle is dominating Benoit in a heel control segment. Benoit starts to come out of it with a real nice double clothesline spot and this is the point where the bout's excitement proceeds to pick up. A short comeback which is than stopped by Angle's Kyoko Inoue like belly to belly off of the top rope. Right here is probably the first part of the bout where people have trouble with it. Benoit hits 2 germans, Angle hits 1 and than Benoit finishes off the trifecta with his own german suplex before going up for his 2nd headbutt attempt off of the top rope.

 

No selling is the common complaint here but it's not as bad as people tend to think it is. First off in wrestling we are often told that this is what happens when a certain move is used. For example we have to shut off our minds when a frontfacelock is used and pretend it's not a move that is lethal and is a move that can be countered easily. Other days we have to pretend it's a finisher. We also have to shut off our minds about irish whips. Why? Because prowrestling has taught us to do so. We accept it and don't complain too much about it. It's the same thing with the german reversal as Benoit and Angle beforehand told us several times that they can reverse suplexes the way they do (I might also add for people who don't think this spot is believable to reming them that they toned down the amount of suplexes and the sequence wasn't hit too late in the bout and henceforth they were still full of energy). It's not like they're cheating and making a new rule of wrestling. They've already solidified the rule.

 

Angle's belly to belly off of the ropes after the first german sequence is also a sore point with some viewers. Yes, it's a little controversial selling but one also has to remember again that Benoit did take a little time going up to the rope and we still weren't too far into the match.

 

This is the part of the bout where we really start to see the oneupmanship deal come into play which is a big theme of this bout. Benoit says "Fu** you Angle" and Angle does the same thing to Benoit. Their pride about who is the best technical wrestler is on the line as it's always been displayed both in the ring and in backstage skits. Angle's german also serves as a nice momentarily break in Benoit comeback. Angle's belly to belly off of the top rope does fight into this mentality a little bit as well.

 

The match after this point is a long finisher segment with Benoit getting the better of Angle at first and than Angle turning the table and proceeding to get the better of Benoit.

 

 

 

 

Back to the match, Angle than goes for a second Angle slam with Benoit countering it yet again by landing on his feet in a cool spot. Angle goes for a clothesline immediatly with Benoit countering into a crossface. Angle makes it to the rope. Benoit uses an anklelock to get Kurt off, Kurt than counters to his own anklelock with Benoit than countering to another crossface by turning his body around and using his other leg on ANgle's arm to drive him down to the mat. An improtant spot which will have importance later on in the bout.

 

This was a real cool sequence which keeps the oneupmanship/technical battle going between the two. The first crossface starts the Benoit onslaught and starts to get the crowd thinking that Benoit just might win. Than in one of my favourite spots of the match. Angle holds on to the ropes -- So what does Benoit do? Put an anklelock on which makes perfect sense since that's a move that'll make you let go of the ropes instinctively. A perfect excuse to go from point A to B and to give Angle a chance to counter into his own anklelock with a sweet counter. With Benoit's counter into his 2nd crossface we see the crowd starting to buy the possability that Angle might submit even more. One other important thing here is that Benoit and Angle's anklelock were brief. If they were longer it would've been a problem with the match in my opinion but they kept them short which was smart. It allowed the emphasis to stay on Benoit making Angle submit by not allowing Angle too much time to recover between the crossfaces. That way the hope of seeing Angle submit is kept strong. The sequence here once again excelled in the oneumpmanship story they had going on during the bout.

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the match again we have Angle countering the crossface in a brand new spot. The bannana split. Than senconds later Benoit once agains has Angle in a crossface before we see Angle attempt a peterson roll. Benoit rolls through but Angle counters that into an Angle Slam. Benoit kicks out.

 

Awesome sequence here made better by the fact that they're playing off of their previous work. With the Benoit countering into yet another crossface after the bannana split it really makes the crowd believe that Benoit's going to do it here and bring home the gold. Like I mentioned earlier it's important that Angle only counter briefly here. It does two immediate things. It keeps the oneupmanship deal going and at the same time makes the crowd's belief that Angle might tap out grow extreamly strong. Angle never has a chance to legitimally recover. It's boom, boom, boom, boom!

 

I mentioned the playing off of their previous stuff. Benoit had already developed the roll through to the attempted peterson roll by Benoit but Angle had never countered the roll through of the peterson roll. And here he does in big time fashion with an Angle slam. Enough to get an exciting pinfall on Benoit because the match has been going on for a while. Also enough to get Benoit down for awhile because ANgle was in big time trouble beforehand.

 

Here though we see probably the biggest problem of the match. Missed clothesline attempts into the crossface. Done too often.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the match. Angle hits the anklelock. Benoit counters with a forward roll which causes Angle to hit the turnbuckles. Benoit attempts a german but Angle counters with an elbow to Benoit's head. Angle goes for a german but Benoit counters with a great looking roll up.

 

Once again the oneupmanship deal. Another great sequence which nobody should have any problems with it. Angle has gotten the anklelock a couple of times now but never for too long. Enough to get the fans a little worried and to start wearing down Benoit's energy health meter. Still, nothing too serious. So far during the finisher segment which has been going since the belly to belly off of the top rope it's been Benoit dominating with Angle holding on but still hitting enough stuff to weaken Benoit's health meter and put him in trouble. (also helped out by the fast pace of the match)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the match. Benoit hits a german, Angle hits a german and than Benoit hits the tout de gras. An awesome overhead german suplexes which ends with Angle face down on the mat. Benoit goes up to the top rope and hits a flying headbutt. Angle kicks out only for Benoit to attempt a standing crossface. Angle rolls through, proceeds to hit Benoit with an innovative two hit combo of an inverted powerbomb into the top turnbuckle followed by the 2nd angle slam of the match.

 

Fantastic sequence here. First off the oneupmanship deal in never more obvious than it is here. Benoit hits 1 german, Angle hits 1 german but than in a hunongous screw you to Angle; Benoit hits the superb overhead release german suplex where I bleieve Angle and Benoit clunked heads. Now my favourite part of the match. Benoit who's now worn out from the match "crawls" over to the turnbuckles and proceeds to hit one of the longest headbutts I've ever seen him do. What makes this so great is a couple of different reasons. First off, it took Benoit three attempts to hit the headbutt so by the time he hits it the crowd HAS to pop for it. Real nice wrestling physcology there. The second reason goes back to that tremendous interview Benoit did on Smackdown where he talked about how much the title meant to him. See, it's one thing to say you're going to do somethnig. I'ts another thing alltogether to say you're going to do something and not only do it but do it with so much recklessabandon and enthusiasm that it becomes contagious to the viewer. Benoit proved through a herculean feat of athleteic prowess that he REALLY wants the title. It doesn't get better than that.

 

Now after Benoit hits the headbutt off of the tope he goes for the crossface on Angle who's down on the mat getting up. Benoit I believe did the same thing at Unforgiven so this time Angle's ready for it and counters by rolling through.

 

Now with the 2nd Angle slam we have the most believable fall of the match where a lot of people were scared to death that it was over. A second Angle slam which was proceeded by work on Benoit's head with the release german, Benoit's own headbutt which hurt him more than usual, a turnbuckle planting and an Angle slam. definitely a tremendous nearfall made even more dangerous and believable by the previous damage to Benoit's head. You can't help but pop like mad for the pinfall when Benoit kicks out. Angle also does a good job displaying Benoit's determination here by pounding the mat with his fist. Benoit's proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wasn't bluffing when he did that backstage interview segment on Smackdown.

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the match. Benoit hits the crossface one last time. Angle counters into the anklelock once again. Benoit trys countering but Angle holds on. Eventually, Angle wins with a laying anklelock.

 

 

 

At this point Angle has taken over the momentum in the finisher segment that started with the belly to belly off of the top rope abouts. This part of the bout is similar to the parts proceeding it where Benoit had the advantage on Angle. This time however it's Angle constantly taking it to Benoit.

 

All right, Benoit hits the crossface one last time. He's hit it a lot and ANgle is bodering on sustaining too much finisher damage but I don't think they went overboard here. Anway, I felt the crossface worked here because it just seemed that Benoit would have to win with it this time and it showed that Benoit was always a constant threat. The whole arena was chanting "Tap" so obviously it worked! The crossface also served as a great excuse for Angle to go from working on Benoit's upperbody to working on his ankle since at that point of the match it wouldn't have made too much sense for Angle to voluntarily go after the ankle. So the crossface represents a logical way to get from A to B and give the match even more time to show Benoit's determination to win this thing by not giving up to Angle's onslaught.

 

After Angle gets Benoit into the anklelock we find ourselves watching some emotionally charged smart wrestling. A couple things I loved about this. First off there's learnt match physcology here. Remember Benoit countering to a crossface by turning his body around and using his other leg on ANgle's arm to drive him down to the mat earlier in the match? Well Benoit does it here once again in a desperate attempt to get out of the anklelock but Angle's learnt that trick and refuses to go down to the mat! And he maintains the anklelock! Also during this sequence Benoit turns around and kicks Angle off of the anklelock momentarily getting Angle off of his foot. Angle though goes right back to the foot like a shark smelling blood. So what does Benoit do? Kick him off again of course but this time in a tremendous looking visual Angle maintains his grip, rolls over and gets Benoit right back into the anklelock! Once again, in ring learnt physcology!

 

2nd thing I loved about this was the way constant pressure was put onto Benoit's ankle. This is an advantage that submission wrestling has over non submission wrestling. With non submission wrestling you'll often find wrestlers can recover a bit inbetween moves so for me anyway the sympthany is not as strong as it could be with submission wrestling like we saw here in this match at the end and the part of the match where Benoit was constantly putting Angle into the crossface. The constant pressure that Angle had on Benoit's ankle at the end of the match never gives me a chance to breathe. I feel Benoit's pain level going up and up with no real break (though there were teased breaks which I really liked) so my smpthany just climbs and climbs for Benoit getting me more involved into the bout.

 

The ending was a sure bet highlight of this bout too. It set up a rematch down the line beautifully as the laying anklelock just screams for a Benoit reversal. It also capped off Angle winning the oneupmanship game that was being played throughout the match. The laying anklelock also plays into the interview piece Benoit did on Smackdown a few weeks beforehand. There was no way Angle was going to beat Benoit using conventional means. He had to bring something new out to take Benoit down. Something he wasn't expecting. And of course as we all know he did.

 

 

So in conclusion, although this match isn't perfect I think it's strong enough to be a classic. The counters, the moveset, the oneupmanship, the technique, the learnt physcology, the emotion and the workrate all make it very memoarable. At least 4 1/4 stars.

[natey2k4 0]

Brock Lesnar vs. Chuck - Smackdown 2002

This was only 6:30, but it might have been JIP. It's actually a pretty good match. Lesnar is a BEAST, clobbering his opponent and towering over his fallen body. That's a truly imposing sight. Starts with shoulder thrusts and an uppercut, then Chuck reverses a whip and comes back with a spinning punch and a boot to the chest. He tries it again but Brock takes him down with a big lariat. The match is mostly Lesnar dominating with stuff like shoulder thrusts, stomps and knees to the gut/back, lariats, and a belly to belly and a verticle suplex. To keep hope alive, Chuck makes little comebacks every now and then, with nice punches to the gut. Chuck elbows Brock in the gut and runs the ropes, but Brock just picks him up, turns him upside down and slams him into the turnbuckle. Brock does a shoulder thrust as he's in the tree of woe. Brock tries it again, but Chuck blocks it with his feet! Great counter. Then Brock, frustrated, charges at him. Chuck ducks and sends him into the post. Then Chuck gets revenge with his own shoulder thrusts (and some great punches) and a belly-to-belly! Woooo, revenge spots~! Brock dodges a spinning punch (which Chuck hit earlier in the match~!!~ learned move psych~!), but Chuck nails him with two superkicks. Hot nearfall off that. Chuck tries another belly-to-belly suplex, but it's blocked and Brock turns it into his own suplex! Brock yells "Come onnnn!" and I'm in awe of him. Brock picks him up for a rib breaker - then in an amazing feat of strenght, tosses Chuck over his head, followed by the F-5 for the win. Really good match. Probably the best Brock vs random opponent match from Smackdown.

 

Man i miss Chuck Already:(

 

Great review by the way.. it was a good length.

[Guest wildpegasus]

BENOIT vs EDGE from the Last Raw Nov 8 2004

 

 

Yes, I really enjoyed this one. Didn't like it much as Showdown in the Desert but it is one of my favourite Benoit singles matches of the year probably behind just the aforementioned desert match and the singles match Benoit had with Orton on Raw.

 

Smart match and they wrestled it the way they should have. Well I guess I should brawling instead of wrestling because that's what a lot of the match was. Angry Benoit destroys Edge in the beginning with the brawling only for Edge to be a subtle heel showing good desperation by twice sneakily knocking Benoit out of the ring momentarily stopping his onslaught.

 

When Edge finally gets control he tricks Benoit by doing what he did at the PPV -- running away only this time he turns around and nails Benoit with a forearm completing the tide turn. Good storytelling. Once again Edge uses a sneaky cowardly tactic to nail Benoit.

 

Edge's control segment was pretty good overall with some nice touches. He brings out the belly to belly but what I also really liked was the submission hold Edge had on Benoit after the commercial break. It was cool looking and not loose which I've seen too much of in the WWE. Benoit tries to break free with a punch or two and Edge just retaliates with a nice looking flurry of punches. Benoit starts to get up but Edge in one of my favourite moments of the match brings back some Pancrase memories by holding Benoit's head to his chest not allowing Benoit to breathe. I've had that put on me before and to the best of my knowledge is not a submission but it is a really irritating manuever which to me anyway raises my ire for Edge in this bout. I thought he did a real good job in this match of just being a good heal and not giving anyone in the crowd a reason to cheer for him.

 

ANyway, back to that sub hold I loved how Benoit had to fight out of it and it wasn't your typical, "I'll just get up now because I feel like it and easily elbow my way out of this". I don't even think Benoit got out of it now that I think of it. I think Edge just pounded on him with fists from the mounted posistion. We than go to another attempted belly to belly suplex by Edge which is blocked by Benoit who than proceeds in my other favourite moment of the match to headbutt Edge repeatably to get out of it. Edge has none of it and manges to spinebuster Benoit down to the mat and hit him with yet more mounted punches. Great sequence there. Watching it I thought for sure that Benoit was going to break free from the belly to belly with the heabutts but it just ended up being a false tease.

 

Edge climbs to the top rope only for Benoit to catch him and hit 3 or so headbutts before suplexing Edge off of the top rope. I want to talk about the headbutts here. This is why Chris Benoit rules. Not just because he showed determination with the headbutts the second time but just because of the execution of them was mindbendingly spectacular here. They're hit with so much velocity (and from a difficult angle to boot) that it becomes impossable not to cheer for Benoit. After the superplex there's another brawling sequence before Benoit hits Edge with a WWE (looks like he's not allowed to do the hooking clothesline in the WWE) clothesline off of the ropes.

 

The clothesline spot marks the official TSN turning point in this match. The key here and what makes this match a smart one is how hard Benoit works for his comeback. He does a gradual multi layered comeback that makes you cheer for him more and more so that when he finally gets it the crowd has to explode with excitement. I thought this was the strong point of this particualr bout. The gradual comeback in the match was also very believable and didn't seem forced like it does in some wrestling bouts.

 

The ending of the match is basically Benoit using brawling and some signature moves to destroy Edge who only the briefest of comebacks. A slight counter to the germans and a thumb to Benoit's eye showing the desperation heel tatics that Edge showed in the beginning of the bout. Really this was the only way the end could be because of storyline. Benoit was a man on a mission as seen in the beginning sections of the match because of his tapping out to the crossface the week before and Edge only being able to stop Benoit for seconds by poking him in the eye put over Benoit's anger that he mentioned in his interview previously in the show.

 

 

WP -- Still upset about the limited reportoires allowed in the WWE

 

 

 

EDIT -- Added a little bit more to my Benoit vs Lesnar match thoughts. Read it if you want.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

WWF Match Review

 

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event (1989)

Announcers: Vince McMahon & Jesse "The Body" Ventura

 

"The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (with Virgil) Vs. The Blue Blazer

 

Note: This marks the debut of the "Million Dollar Championship" belt.

 

The Blazer comes down to a nice pop and does his trademark backflip into the ring...and is immediately LEVELED by a DiBiase clothesline! DiBiase works over Blazer in the corner, before taking the masked man down with an elbow as his own cape is tangled around his ankles! Scoops slam & three elbowdrops by Ted, as he then taunts the crowd.

 

DiBiase shoots Blazer in, but the richest man in the business gets cradled for a 2-count! Backslide by DiBiase is reversed for another nearfall!

 

DiBiase regains control by raking the eyes, and follows up with a clothesline. With the Blazer staggered, Ted actually connects (!) with his trademark second-rope axehandle. More time wasted taunting the crowd, but DiBiase scores with a beautiful vertical suplex.

 

DiBiase whips Blazer in...a backdrop is reversed, as Blazer flips himself over Ted's back! Amazing spot for 1989! Blazer dropkicks DiBiase over the top rope! Blazer gets a running start and hits a crossbody to the floor through the ropes! Atomic drop sends DiBiase into the ringsteps! We may see a Million Dollar Champion Blazer! Blazer up top, flying bodypress for two! DiBiase sent in for a big back body drop! Two Blazer dropkicks followed by two European uppercuts send DiBiase to the mat. The announcers can sense an upset! Only a two count, however.

 

Blazer whips DiBiase into the ropes and attempts a leapfrog, only to be caught in a 360 powerslam, right in the middle of the ring! DiBiase scores the academic pinfall with one of the best slams in the business, out of nowhere! So close for the Blazer...he gained a nugget of respect, however, from one of the WWF's top stars.

 

Winner in 3:58 via pinfall

"The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase