Why is no one talking about Orton/Benoit

[Guest Rrrsh]

This was the best Smackdown match this year and one of the Top 5 matches of the year. Where the hell is the love? Are people here so blind towards Orton that they neglect this match? Usually great matches get more love than it should since the WWE is producing such garbage. But I am hearing nothing.

 

Jesus, people blew the load over Marty Jannety being put in restholds for 20 minutes by Kurt Angle. Lets rejoice here people!

[CanadianChick 0]

Meh. Compared to their past matches, it wasn't as good.

[David Blazenwing 0]

It was a good match. The only reason people aren't talking about it, though, is because Benoit lost. Here at TSM, Orton could have nailed Jesus to the cross himself and gotten less heat then if he would have pinned Benoit, especially due to an Orlando Jordan run-in.

 

[AndrewTS 0]

5 resthold spots from Orton, no real flow, nothing outstanding except for Orton's Ultra-dickhead DDTs (I liked that) and nobody cared for it because Benoit lost? It was flat out boring, I'm sorry.

 

This week has been pretty crappy as far as pre-PPV shows (and those usually are bad anyway). Hardly any of the participants in matches together came within 100 feet of each other, except for the Cena handicap match on Raw. Not even the dumbest mark on the planet thinks Jericho has a snowball's chance in hell of winning at Slam.

[Guest Sternchen]

A descent match. Maybe I am just too bored to care. Since the lottery I watch the shows without any motivation because they are crap so maybe that's the reason for me not bouncing up and down right now.

[Downhome 0]

Why is no one talking about Orton/Benoit, from Smackdown

 

Maybe because it was on SD and hardly anyone saw it?

[Guest Sternchen]

Yup, we are talking about the main event.

 

I highly doubt that a lot of people watch the show TO THE END.

That's impossible.

[Dark Age 0]

I actually thought it was pretty bad. Both matches last year SMOKE it. Orton NO-SOLD! the headbutt to my disgust, but I was even more upset with the fact that they didn't build on the swank headbutt spots from last year. I never get the feeling that Orton's building to the RKO. I mean, people actually like Orton using the chinlocks and headlocks and stuff because it seems like he's setting up for his finisher. I don't get that. I never think "oh, Orton's preparing for the RKO, cool!". I don't think Orton thinks "this will be some smart work leading to the finish!". It just seems like he's filling time. They look nice and realistic, but they don't really, ya know, do anything. Benoit's first german was better than it's been in a while, though. From then on it's just spot after spot, with no rhyme or reason. Benoit's sharpshooter sucked, again, and he knew it, hence his kneeling, which was actually mega cool. I appreciated the tease of the gutwrench neckbreaker that Orton does, but I'm being kind. It may be that he just couldn't lift Benoit. There was other things I liked, and other things I didn't, but I can't even remembr now.

 

I'm probably being too hard on it because I expected so much after the good stuff they produced last year. I guess it wasn't THAT bad, but it was hardly good. You're completely wrong if you think it's the best SD match this year, though. Eddie/Rey, Eddie/Angle, Angle/Rey, and Angle/JBL, to name just a few, are all way better than it. Maybe I need to rewatch it, but I can safely say it wasn't anything special.

[Dark Age 0]

Oh, but that turnbuckle spot was great.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Wasn't Eddie/Angle the one where they kept throwing a chair back and forth to each other before the referee could get up so they wouldn't get DQ'd and then Eddie just fell down (acting unconscious) and the referee saw Angle with the chair and proceeded to berate him? I LOVED that spot, one of the more comedic/innovative ones I've seen in some time.

[Guest Coffey]

Damnit, now I'm going to download Smackdown just to see if this match was any good.

[Dark Age 0]

Yes. The 25 minutes prior to that were really good too.

[Guest wildpegasus]

People are having a wide range of opinion on this match from what I read.

 

These were some quick thoughts that I posted on the board the other day.

 

 

Thoughts on Benoit vs Orton

 

 

It was good to pretty good but a ways off from their classic Raw match of last year.

 

 

They did a good job at the beginning at keeping things interesting with the mat wrestling. The flow here was good but not great. One nice moment had Orton using the reff break on the ropes to get Benoit back into the headlock. Their timing was also pretty good on the armdrags. The beginning part of the match actually went on for quite a long time.

 

 

Orton took over with a two part move for the "first" real control segment. He ends up hitting Benoit with a face first DDT while Benoit's feet are on the middle ropes. Devestating move and they treat it as such right away as Benoit's actually in trouble right off the bat just managing to put his foot on the ropes.

 

 

Benoit mostly fought back here with his intense brawling which of course I always like. Orton went for his Canadian backbreaker into a neckbreaker spot but couldn't get Benoit up so he just goes for a wicked DDT. I don't know if it's just because he's facing Benoit who loves to take more than his share of punishment but Orton was better here than he was in the past at having convincing offence in the heel control segment portion of the matches.

 

 

The switch back to offence for Benoit was a highlight of a match. Orton does the irish whip shot of Benoit into the turnbuckles where he gets the extra oomph on the move by going down to the mat (ala HHH vs Benoit). However, Benoit comes/collapses out of the turnbuckle and hits Orton with a headbutt with his weakened neck. Great, innovative spot and both are down for the count of 10.

 

Finisher time. They do the brawling exchange that Orton always does in his matches and go from there. This segment was pretty good but too short as Jordan comes down and interferes.

 

Overall, it was a pretty good little match. The flow was good but not super like in their Raw match from last year and the ending was a little too short for my likings but I assume that's partly because they weren't doing a PPV match where they kick out of all their finishers. The middle felt a little short too probably due to the length of the mat wrestling in the beginning.

 

 

Watch it and have fun. That's what it's all about

[Guest Coffey]

Eh, I thought it was "meh." I didn't like the finish and I'm not a real big fan of the headlocks, although I will admit that at least Orton tries to make them not so boring.

[cabbageboy 0]

What was this Raw classic they had last year? I know I saw it since it was the day after SS but I don't really remember much about it...was this the show where HHH and Evolution turned on Orton post match?

 

Nobody is really talking about it because it was...just a match. Nothing amazing really, just what you'd expect with those guys given 20 mins.

[Dark Age 0]

Yes, that's the match. It's very good, and maybe the best Raw match of the year. Wildpegasus has wrote a lot about it, so I'll let him go in to detail, but there's just tons of little things playing off on the SummerSlam match the night earlier. Benoit giving Orton a front suplex so that he couldn't get his feet up on the headbutt comes to mind. Just a really fun match.

[Guest wildpegasus]

I don't think I can find what I wrote about it before because my posts are spread out on various boards.

 

 

Some quick points.

 

 

The stage is set. Orton at Slam won the title in an upset with a lucky RKO. The upstart has beaten the veteran who lived all his life for the title.

 

Fast forward to Raw. Benoit is ticked after losing his most prized possesion the night before. Orton is the new young, brash champion who "fluked" out a win.

 

Now as anyone who's read my posts before knows I mark for in ring intensity in a big, big way. This match here in particular was loaded with it.

But the cool thing is the situation called for it. Benoit has to be intense (he ups it a notch here) and Orton as a result has to be the young champion just barely holding on. The roleplaying for these two roles are played to perfection in this match.

 

In fact, the beginning beatdown of Orton in this bout is one of the most entertaining things I've seen. Intense as anything and they do a great job of keeping the match entertaining throughout Orton's beatdown. A lot of the times you run the risk of creating sympthany for the heel or just boring the audience if you go too long with a face beatdown of a heel. Here, however this doesn't happen. Orton's comebacks allow the match to stay interesting while at the same time showing how ticked off Benoit was. Any brief momentum is cutt off by Benoit. They did a real good job in particular around the dropkick off the apron spot by Benoit. Not only did it play off Slam but it allowed yet another tease that Orton was out of trouble only for him to get his just deserts with a dropkick. Brilliant. Everything they did here gave the impression that Orton was the young lucky champ holding on while Benoit was a man on a mission. Everything with a flow/pace that was just terrific. Benoit busting out a new moveset also added to the seriousness of his quest.

 

 

Orton who was in big time trouble (loved the raking of the face while in the sharpshooter) needed some kind of big break to gain the advantage in the match and that's what he gets. The dropkick off of the apron sending Benoit down to the barrier. Not only was it a big time move that he needed but the move comes off as a desperation/lucky strike which so fits into his charactor's role for the match.

 

Orton's beatdown on Benoit was pretty fun/good enough although not totally deadly. I liked that as it gave the perception that Benoit was still this stick of dynamite ready to explode and as soon as he got that oppurnity he'd get his just deserts. Orton is just weathering the inevitable Benoit lightning storm. The Orton beatdown on Benoit also allowed us all to appreciate Benoit's comeback all the more.

 

Fast forward to Benoit's comeback. It's all intense as we expect from the lightning storm that is Benoit. One real nice moment has Benoit just planting Orton down to the mat with a face first suplex. Than we have Benoit going for the crossface immediatly after the german suplexes. That was a nice touch there as it truly displayed that the "barely holding on to his title by a thread" Randy Orton is no match for Benoit. Still to this point everything done in this match falls in line with their charactor roles.

 

Now we have the ending of the match which was intereference ridden. Normally, I hate interference but every once in awhile it works. This is one of those time. As evident by the whole match Orton really has no chance here. It's only luck that's going to get him through this night and that's what happens here. A distracted Benoit gets hit by the RKO when he turns around for the 1/2/3. This was the only way Orton could win the bout -- the lucky route. If he had won it any other way all the roleplaying would be for naught. To the very end they stay true to their charactors for the bout.

 

 

So yeah, obviously I love this bout. Benoit bringing out the movest was a really nice touch. The touches from Slam were cool as well.

 

A lot of my favourite matches will have a certain flow to them. If I don't like the pacing/timing/flow of a bout it usually doesn't work for me. This one had a terrific flow.

[Youth N Asia 0]

The match was decient, but the show honestly put me to sleep twice already and I just couldn't get into it

[Silence 0]

I thought it was just an OK match at best. Orton did too many headlocks and slowed the match down whereas Benoit's offense kept the action going. Benoit did the Sharpshooter way too much, though, and had slightly poor execution on it the third time with the kneeling position. Orlando Jordan's interference didn't help, either, even though he's defending the US title against Benoit at Summerslam.

 

That "sling to the turnbuckle into a falling headbutt on the opponent" spot from Benoit was innovative, though.

 

Aside from that, the Benoit/Orton Smackdown match is nothing compared to their Raw match from last year.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

"This was the best Smackdown match this year"

 

Go away.

[CanadianChris 0]

What is this "Smackdown" you speak of?

[JHawk 0]

Someone made mention as to how he never feels the headlocks set up the RKO.

 

Maybe if Tazz and/or Michael Cole would say something as simple as "All these headlocks help weaken the neck for the RKO", maybe people would get that fact.

[Silence 0]

Someone made mention as to how he never feels the headlocks set up the RKO.

 

Maybe if Tazz and/or Michael Cole would say something as simple as "All these headlocks help weaken the neck for the RKO", maybe people would get that fact.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That can be accomplished better without restholds and basic headlocks, though, since half of the heel roster on both shows do them anyway, and those moves just aren't effective enough.

[humongous2002 0]

Just like last year's Summerslam match, Orton/Benoit was overrated and it deserves nothing more than **3/4 stars in my opinion.

[cabbageboy 0]

The only Orton match I'd say is really worth going out of the way to see is the Foley streetfight match. Other than that one I find most of his stuff bland and uninteresting. I don't think he has "it."

[Dark Age 0]

No, Tazz and Cole saying Orton's using the headlocks to set up the RKO wouldn't mean anything. My point was I don't think ORTON uses the headlocks to set up the RKO. I think he uses them because he hasn't got a fuckin' clue what else to use. Or because WWE tells him to. Either way, they aren't too cool.

[Guest Coffey]

I remember Steve Austin working over Kurt Angle's neck both to set up the Stone Cold Stunner and because Angle had a broken neck before. That match showed how it should be done. Of course, it involved multiple Piledrivers....

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Benoit throwing knees to Randy's back while he had him in the headlock was the best part of the match and this is coming from a dude that was 30-something feet away from the match. It started off promising by Randy blew a few spots and the finish was telegraphed as hell.

[SuperJerk 0]

I'm not talking about it because I didn't see it.

 

I'm boycotting Smackdown until I give a shit about anyone they're pushing.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

*Benoit is lead past Rudo and Curry by referees while clutching his neck after the finish of the match*

 

Curry: Knees to the fucking back Benoit!

 

Rudo: LOVED the headlock spots!