Resident Evil

TLC III was a great match. Great drama, great spots and a tremendous feel good feeling after watching it though in hindsight knowing Benoit got hurt makes the match hard to watch.

So true. Ravishing Rick Rude was what professional wrestling is supposed to be. I actually like Nash a little bit in his first go with WCW and his run as Diesil but not once he came back into WCW.

Triple HHH brings less to the table than Benoit does and is only percieved as great by some because he's booked that way. HHH is the ultimate example of how you can take someone that is in no way special (though he can be good but he in no way whatsoever has the "it" factor) and get him places via booking him strongly and the rest of the roster weak. HHH from what I've seen brings a lof of the "don't even care" attitude by the fans when he's on the Tv screen. That is not good. A lot of the problems in today's WWE climate are a result of HHH. Unpoplular Opinion -- Let's see -- Jamie Knoble was the best ROH wrestler ever in ROH if only for the fact that he was the most natural in the ring. I have yet to see a Jerry Lawler match I really liked and I have now seen him against Macho, Bret, Flair, Junkyard Dog, Michales, Fujinami and Funk. To me, he represents everything that's wrong in wrestling and is the fakest looking wrestler I've ever seen. I don't know if this is unpoplular or not but the time before Ravishing RIck Rude got injured in WCW I thought he was one of the most interesting and enthralling charactors ever in wrestling. I loved his mic work and him going on about his opponents or the injustices leveled on him. Similar to how Bret, Austin and Michaels were in 97. Rude despite his comical antics in the ring at times had me believing pretty much like Bret Hart did when he was at his best.

Sorry, I should've been more clear. It was a 4 way match that was one of Foley's initial retirement matches.

In Foley's first book he mentions he wasn't too happy with one of his Wrestlemania opponents. Does anyone have any idea on which wrestler it was?

Exactly. If it does, someone should be able to explain why Batista didn't suffer the same backlash, considering that he's no better than Cena. I think the fans buy Batista as more believable than Cena inside the ring. Batista has always been a monstor and he hasn't deviated away from that. He's credible and his offence on avearage is better than Cena's offence. Especially now that even the WWE were addresing that Cena is not a good wrestler (are they still doing that?) but has tons of heart. That's gotta hurt Cena's believability factor.

There was never a time when any of those three guys should have been WWF champion. They didn't do Russo-style quick title reigns to swerve the fans back then. I wouldn't argue with you over Rude and Hennig but as a character, and a wrestler, Dibiase could have held the belt and not one person would have questioned it. I say Rude and Henning* would've been just as good if not better choices for the belt than the Million Dollar Man. However in saying that I have no doubt that Dibiase would've been a great champ too. All 3 of them certainly could've had runs as champ. *Especially if he became champion with his Perfect streak alive. It's "too bad" there are a million Benoit comments here to comment on now. Perhaps for now I'll just comment on why I'm such an obsessed Benoit fan -- shameless plug -- as evidenced by my favourite WWF Benoit matches in this very forum!! As a kid I had to work hard. Part of the reason why I gravitated towards watching wrestling is that I could see these guys were hard working superheros that fought (kayfabe or not) tooth and nail for their craft. I'm a fan of the athletic side of wrestling. I'm a fan of passion and I'm a fan of someone taking themselves to the physical limit. With wrestling I get that plus all the extra benifits that it brings which say you wouldn't see in a marathon race. It's why I'm big on wrestlers such as Kobashi and Benoit. I get inspiration from the dedication that these wrestlers put their bodies through and without sounding too arrogant I believe I'm more capable of understanding that than others. Benoit shows that better than anyone. With every move, every kick, suplex Benoit does it brings me more and more into a bout. That lets me care because I see someone else caring so much. I see charisma mentioned here and there throughout this thread. Benoit's got it and he's actually got lots of it. People get mixed up sometimes and think charisma is only the type of outgoing charisma the Rock or Will Smith for example exhibited. Charisma is the ability to draw someone to yourself and Benoit has that in aces. Through passion, physique, being a kick but take no prisoners attitude and now especially his grizzled veteranish look along with his selling Benoit is exuding charisma. This kind of charisma is especially necessary in wrestling where you're going to have fans who will always gravitate towards this simply due to the athletic part of wrestling. It is also fantastic to have when you're going up against the outgoing charisma type of wrestler for various reasons.

Yes, you would be correct. Coffey, I like the RVD match a good deal (Northern Rolling Lights!)but it just didn't click enough to be one of my favs. I like the Raw match they had a lot better.

Inspired by the awesomeness of the Benoit vs Finlay Judgement Day I decided I wanted to make a post of my favourite Benoit matches ever. If I don't get too lazy I will do this by category such as Favourite WWF, WCW, ECW, other, UWA, NJPW and of course Stampede. Than I will attempt to do an overall favourite category. Of course there are several matches where I really couldn't put one match in front of another but just did so because I had to. Yeah, life is tough. WP's Favourite Benoit WWF matches 1)Benoit vs Austin from Smackdown in Edmonton, Alberta Canada This match which actually has 5 mnutes taken out from it makes it to first spot primarily for the reason that it has one of the greatest face comebacks of all time. Austin tries to embarass Benoit repeatably in his hometown with several different spots but Benoit has nothing of that and comes back with a charactor fitting comeback that only he charactor wise could pull off -- The 10 german suplexes. 2)Benoit vs Brock Lesnar Smackdown WWF world title match I have gone on record as saying this is one of the best matches of all time from anywhere and I truly believe it. The flow is as perfect as it gets, the intensity is off the charts, the wrestling is smart and the ending was absolutely terrific storywise, memoarable wise and charactor wise. Jumping jimminy crickets, what an ending. 3)Benoit vs Kurt Angle Royal Rumble I don't think people realise how brilliant this match truly is. Very smart work complete with one of Benoit's best diving headbutts of all time. 4)Benoit vs Fit Finaly Judgement Day 06 Brutal, oh man this was brutal. Kneedrops to the face!! This is like 2 hardcore hockey fighters going at it. Struggle, cool moves and a bunch of little things make this terrific. Notice how in the beginning mat portions how every time they go from point A to point B to point C and so on it makes so much sense. Extremely cool sequences around the flying headbutt and enzurguri sections of the match. To appreciate this match at its fullest I believe one has to change their mindset some watch closely at what's being done. Very good distinct charactors in this bout. 5)Benoit/Angle vs Rey Mysterio Jr./Edge No Mercy This is still the best tag match I've seen on US soil. Maybe not Canadian though because I think the Viet Cong Express vs Owen Hart/Basserb matches may be ahead of it. I love this match especially the flow of it which I thought was strung together very well. A lot of great nearfalls such as one of all time favourites where Edge small packaged Angle. That was a thing of beauty. This kind of reminds me of the great Japanese action filled tags. 6)Benoit vs Randy Orton Raw WWF world title match 04 It says a lot for this match when I can watch it opposite 93 All Japan and actually like this better. This match is practically perfect. Intensity filled, well played charactors, tons of payoff from Summerslam and smart work. Still the best Benoit vs Orton match. 7)Benoit vs Kane Raw World title defence by Benoit The best of the Chris Benoit title defences. Once again the free Tv match is better than the PPV bout. This had a tremendous flow and was a great blowoff for the Bad Blood bout. Intense, very smart work and they even managed to work in a couple of stipulations. 8)Benoit/Angle vs Edge/Rey 2/3 falls 11/7/02 Smackdown Didn't quite hit the level of No Mercy but it was still exceptional in its all right. Action filled the whole way with a ton of cool looking offence and counters. 9)Benoit vs Chris Jericho Royal Rumble Ladder Match The best ladder match I've ever seen simply because it has the best flow to it and feels like a fight complete with some innovative looking spots 10)Benoit vs Jericho Backlash I go back and forth with this and the 2 out of 3 falls match at Summerslam. The highlight of this is the fight feel it had going for it. That's what they went for and they more than succeeded. 11)Benoit vs Jericho Summerslam 2/3 falls The funniest thing about this match is that I was watching Stampede at the time and I was thinking that the ending of one of the Smith vs Benoit bouts would be perfect for this encounter. And than they go ahead and use it!!!! The match is a little anticlimatic but in retrospect it never was the blowoff. 12) Benoit vs Shawn Michaels Showdown in the Desert A really great buildup in this one so it was too bad it cutoff short. I would say this hit the 4 star mark with 3 stars alone given to Benoit for knocking Michaels off the top rope and of course for his unbelievable superkick sell 13)Benoit vs Rey Mysterio Jr. Smackdown Their only televised match ever and yeah; it was a ring a ding dong dandy. Benoit comes up with an awesome new counter to Rey's 619 and hits a super flying headbutt emphasing the point that this match was truly something special. Really awesome stuff. 14)Benoit/Jericho vs Austin/HHH Monday Night Raw 5/01 Probably the most emotional tag the WWF has put on in rescent years. I thought the match played out really well in that aspect. 15)Benoit vs Booker T Match #2 of the Best of 5000 This was my fav of the series. I loved absolutely everything in it from the selling to the flow to the offence to the way Benoit transistioned through chops! 16)Benoit vs Kurt Angle Unforgiven Heel vs heel and a completely different match than the Rumble storywise and charactor wise which is pretty impressive. Wrestled just the way it should've been at the time. 17)Benoit vs A-Train Tournament match Benoit has one of the best short matches I've ever seen against the most underappreciated grappler of all time. This is the match has the spot where Benoit is kicking A-Train and than proceeds to run the ropes. A-Train showing how he is such a monstor has none of that crap and bycicle kicks Benoit in the face. That's the moment that reinforced my belief that Kawada vs Benoit could be the best thing ever. 18)Benoit vs Rock 8/15/02 Smackdown At this point Benoit and Rock's chemistry was very high. Really good flow in this combined with tons of excitement and a superly riduclously cool revenge sequence spot in the beginning of the match. 19)Benoit/Cena vs Lesnar/Rhyno/Morgan/Show 1/22/04 Smackdown I think this is Rhyno's strongest match ever with his best preformance inside the ring that I have seen. Lost in the shuffle and besides Downhome's appreciation for the bout I think this is really overlooked. Action packed. 20)Benoit vs Batista 1/05 Raw Here because this is an example of how unselfish Benoit is as a wrestler. A really good match and this although not as well known did the same thing to Batista as Bret vs Austin did to Austin in that it helped Batista's career advance. This put over Batista LEGIT as a monstor 21)Benoit/Jericho vs Dudleys vs Hardys vs Edge/Christian TLC III 5/24/01 Smackdown Here for the drama which was done well. They fit a story into here to make it into the best TLC bout ever. Of course you have all your career ending spots too. The conchairto spot alone gets this match on my list. 22)Benoit/Angle vs Eddie/Chaveo 10/17/02 Smackdown This and the following match kind of blend together on me 23)Benoit/Angle vs Eddie/Chavo 11/28/02 Smackdown This and the preceding match kind of blend together on me 24)Benoit/Eddie vs Rock/Edge 8/1/02 Smackdown THis was right after Benoit and Eddie jumped from Raw to Smackdown. The match itself is wrestled perfectly and its only flaw is that gets cut off shortly. Classic heels cut off the faces stuff -- just done really well with nice timing and cool spots. 25)Benoit vs Austin 11/20/00 Raw Smart work and the match where afterwards Austin just tore it up wrestling wise. Man, Benoit and Austin had chemistry. It didn't even matter who was face or who was heel. 26)Benoit vs Angle 30 minute submission match 4/29/01 Backlash Just so different and an interesting match to think about. 27)Benoit/Angle vs Cena/Kidman Smackdown 02 Lost in the big shuffle of the Smackdown six is this doozy of a match. Action packed as all the matches were at the time. The thing I liked about it is that I never lost track of the fact that Cena and Kidman were the underdogs but yet the bout was still competitive. 28)Benoit vs Orton No Holds Barred Man, why can't we get Benoit and Regal fighting this long in a match? This bout was fought in the Benoit vs Regal style. We gotta get some kind of name for that. 29)Benoit vs Regal 5/8?/06 Velocity Loved this. Regal gets some nice nearfalls in and the offence itself is off the charts awesome. Regal counters the dragon suplex attempt and I think I'm in some kind of All Japan/lucha hybrid fantasy. 30)First ever Money in the Bank Wrestlemania XXI Benoit reopens his wound by doing a diving headbutt off the top rope. He than counters a Kane chokeslam by dong the rapid headbutts. He than sells an injured arm by BITING the mat. Yeah, you better believe this match is going to get on this list. 31)Benoit vs Nathon Jones Smackdown 11/20/03 An example of how a smaller guy guy can win a match but in doing so not make the bigger guy look weak. Really good little bout complete with a spectacular top rope dropkick by Benoit that catches Jones as he's getting up from the mat! Looked totally realistic 32)Benoit vs Jericho 5/4/00 Smackdown IC title match Because I'm a fan of that sequence which finishes off with Benoit tossing Jericho over the top rope.

The Blonds defeated Steamboat/Douglas for the unified tag team belts that consisted of the NWA and WCW belts. The photo looks like Austin has the NWA belt, and Pillman has the WCW belt. That match happened on Worldwide and was a great one. Better than the Clash of the Champions.

A lot of negativity on 1wrestling.com and some on the Torch. There was some other negativity on a couple of other sites I was at too. Never saw the PPV but I'm still dissapointed at what almost seems to be passionate hate towards the Smackdown and the praising of Raw.

What the "The Thread Killer" says is very true and I think a lot of people would agree with that. It's criminal for example that a lot of people haven't seen the more full versions of the Benoit/Smith matches. It's criminal that I have't seen more lucha libre than I have. Some of that's going to be rectified thanks to the generosity a member of the board here and the deathvalley project so that's terrific and all but bottom line is it's tough to know and get everything out there. There's just that much out there. I wouldn't have it any other way though.

Just a few Japanese matches that come to mind. There are others but I've watched too much Japanese wrestling and a lot of it blurs together for me. That and I can't remember dates. These are common picks with just a little bit of influence from me. If it was just my picks the matchlist would be different. Remember, what's the best match for one person is not the best match for every person. Dynamite Kid vs Tiger Mask 4/21/83 Lyger vs Sano Blow off match but in actuality the whole series should be watched because it might just be the best series ever for displaying clear meaning from match to match Benoit vs Sasuke J Cup Thunderqueen AJW vs JWP Kandori vs Hokuto Dreamslam Ozaki/Kansai vs Yamada/Toyota Dreamrush Ozaki/Kansai vs Yamada/Toyota Dreamslam II Ozaki/Fukuoka vs Hotta/T.Inoue 12/92 AJW vs JWP on JWP's turf Michinoku Pro These Days 10/10/96 Kobashi vs Misawa 1/20/97 Kobashi vs Hanson 7/29/93 Kandori/Hokuto vs Aja Kong/Bull Nakano Manami Toyota vs Kyoko Inoue forget the date Sakie Hasegawa vs Toshiyo Yamada 3/3/94 Kobashi vs Williams 8/93 and I'll give a nod to their 9/94 match too

Before Johnny Smith turned heel he had a pretty good little match against Garfield Portz (Scott McGhee) who was a heel in Stampede. Of course it was clipped. Portz had a good match that I just can't remember right now. He had a nice match against Pillman as well. His gimmick in Stampede was that he was the best wrestler to come out of England. He was booked strongly and it was obvious the guy had some talent. The kind of guy where if you're watching a tape you stop the tape and watch because you know something good might be coming on.

Scott McGhee Interview http://www.cwfarchives.com/articles/ScottM...eeInterview.php Rock'n'Roll Express vs Minnesota Wrecking Crew Steel Cage from 1985 I think This match alone is almost better than any match on the WWF DVDVR set. Going in I didn't think the match would be as good as it was as I was underestimating the Minnesota Wrecking Crew. The match starts off kind of eh but once Gibson gets the tag into Morton and Morton gets the crap beaten out of him the match picks up. A lot of that was due to Morton's well known selling ability. The Andersons work on both his head and his arm area well enough to the point where it's hard not to get behind Morton. One thing you'll find different watching this match in comparison to matches of today is the amount of times Morton was cut off from making the hot tag. I had lost count but it was a lot and it was refreshing to see so many hot tags cut off for the simple fact that it was different. There were moments during the face in peril section that were tremendous. The Andersons did a good job of pulling things out of their hat to beat up Morton's arm. They kept on upping the ante which is something I like to see in my matches. There were some moments in the Morton beatdown that were just okay though and I felt they became more visible just because the other parts were so good. The ending was fine but it felt a little anticlimatic after everything else that went down. Still, the match was great and it should be checked out. You can find it on www.youtube.com Do a search for Arn Andeson and you should find the match.

Muta made a tremendous impression on me when I was 13 yrs old that would still cause me to mark out for him years after the fact. In his book, DK mentions that he thought the Funks had the greatest minds in wrestling. Does anyone agree?

Trish was working in the gym even before she came to the WWE. And there's no doubt she's a hard worker in the WWE. WP -- Fondly remembers when Trish first appeared in the MuscleMag magazines.

I've seen Hase cut a promo in English so it looks like he can speak it too.

Hase can talk English too. I saw him do a promo in Stampede before.

I posted a thread about this on a bodybuilding forum http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=762998 Found some information on Kurt Angle's Olympic routine. I remember him mentioning how it broke down his body some http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.p...=Benoit+workout his training programme: morning 4 mile run, every hill he hit, he sprinted, usually for 200-300 yds. then about 15 sprints uphill carrying his 185-pound manager then rope runs, i'm not sure if that's what you call it, someone would wrap a bungee cord around him and pull as hard as he could, while kurt sprinted uphill about 10 times afternoon wrestling practice. (and it sure as hell was killer) night weight training. examples were taking 80 pound db's and doing 100 jump squats and squatting 225 pounds 77 times once.

They do use English some in Japan. In wrestling it's very common to hear the reff use English. THe fans will alway count "One, two ... ahhh" in English as well. I can't speak for everyone but I know Benoit did a lot of his matches on the go. It's a talent you have to acquire. DK mentioned he was never quite sure what was going to happen in his matches with Sayama -- For example if he would dive out and hit him wih a crossbody block or do the fakeout (619 where you don't hit your opponent and you land on your feet back in the ring) On the other side of the coin I've heard Dan Kroffat called the finishes to his matches in All Japan which were often complicated/complex wrestling sequences. The language barrier can lead to miscommunication even between wrestlers that are familiar with each other and that can be a handicap but it's also a positive to be able to improvise stuff on the go. The other negative that I see is that it'd be impossible to do certain things in the ring. For example if you wanted to have a match completley out of the ordinary I could see someone having a really tough time because your opponent wouldn't know what you're up to or trying to do. See Benoit vs Angle for example. A terrific match that was structured well but it was full of complex wrestling sequences and counters that you never saw before. Benoit or Angle couldn't go into another wrestling league and try to do the same thing even if they had better wrestling opponents. Familiarity is a plus even if you can't communicate. For example Hase and Owen Hart wrestled each other a lot in Stampede wrestling so by the time Owen wrestled Hase in Japan they could get away with doing some things that they couldn't have if they had never faced each other before.

So what are your favourite of the bunch? For me, I think this match is gonna be tough to beat because at points it reminded me of some of the elements of the Rocky fights and Hokuto/Kandori. Just thinking aloud, one of the things I loved about this match was that I thought it was over after Von Erich got hit with the steal door but yet it went on for awhile afterwards.