Resident Evil

oh yeah of course eddie gets credit too

Benoit's best matches in '93 were the Samurai match which was brilliant, the Armstrong match, the Guerrero handheld bout and the WCW Scorpio handheld bout where they never even went to some of their finishing stuff. The Regal handheld is probably up there but I haven't seen it and I imagine the Scorpio New Japan Classics match was stellar. I can't wait for that one to show up some day. Than there were the 2 March 93 tags with Malenko against Lyger and Samurai which were rock and rolling but unfortunately just didn't get enough time. Same with the Finlay handheld New Japan match. HIs other standouts were the Lyger handheld matches from Australia, the Johnny B. Badd match from the TV title tourney and of course the tag tourney bouts where he and Lyger teamed. I'd agree with this. I also wonder how Benoit compares to Owen in '94. WP -- Actually 94 might be Benoit's best year preformance wise and even better than 95 or 96. Of course he was mostly the heel in these matches and doing a good amount of leading. Preformances that Benoit shined in were: Benoit vs Ohtani 2/16/94 HH New Japan -- Great Benoit vs Sabu Handheld 2/19/94 -- The Sabu matches are some of the best examples of just how good Benoit was. Sabu said it himself. He didn't have to do any crazy stunts with Benoit as Benoit would just wrestle and the crowd would eat up what they're doing Benoit/Lyger vs Steiners 4/4/94 Benoit vs Sasuke 4/16/94 J Cup which is now getting underrated Benoit vs Ohtani BOSJ tourney 5/26/94 -- This is a "hidden" gem and is one of the best examples of how to put over a younger talent, make him look strong and keep your own credibility high. Benoit gives Ohtani offence and makes him a threat but the match never allows you to think that Benoit still isn't the man. Awesome match and it's hard to top Benoit's preformance here. Benoit vs Malenko 6/1/94 HH -- Some may think Benoit doesn't sell the leg enough here but the actual structure of this match is terrific Benoit vs Sabu Handheld 8/5/94 -- Stellar match and preformance here by Benoit. Sabu's best matches are no coincidence against Benoit. (Al Snow vs Sabu is fun too) Benoit vs Al Snow NWA handheld 8/7/94 -- This is why I love wrestling. Like deathvalley said a million, billion stars. Benoit is a workrate machine here and he and Snow wrestle their hearts out for 20 minutes in front of almost nobody. Different than their ECW match. This one wets the appetite for more Snow vs Benoit. I'm telling everybody here to GET THIS MATCH. Benoit/Norton vs Steiners 9/23/94 Benoit vs Honaga 9/27/94 -- I think this is the most overlooked match of Beniot's career. Multi Counters galore and the work around the dragon suplex is absolutely brilliant. They do a nice story in this bout as well where Honga tries all sorts of different strageties to beat Benoit. Again, some might think Benoit doesn't sell the leg enough but there's no denying this match Benoit/Ohtani vs Sasuke Tiger -- Both matches. Do I really have to say anything about these Benoit vs Scorpio 11/9/94 -- Perfect wrestling. I don't know man, That's tough to beat and that's just the stellar preformances. If 11/25/94 shows up it's just going to further promote Benoit's case.

Too much to comment on in this thread. So Eddie's going to completey snap after losing to Rey? I figured Eddie would completely lose the feud and than just completely snap from than on out. I'd love to see him be a total lunatic in the main event scene. But why are they down on Benjamin? WP -- Who believes that 90% of the time the WWE just does things to tick me off.

I know I'm biased towards Benoit. I'm also biased towards Eddie. But really when it all comes down to it everyone is biased in their thought patterns because if we weren't we wouldn't be writing anything on these webpages. We'd have no motivation.

I don't get the classic arguement either. I love Eddie's work as much as anyone but every year from 92 on I pick a Benoit match over an Eddie match. Well, except for the times I prefer their matches against each other.

Yeah, so what's next for Mysterio after the Eddie feud? Where would you go with him and where do you think the WWE will go with him? Personally I'd build him up for a Wrestlemania heavyweight title win next year at Mania. Against Benoit of course though Lesnar could work as well. First off, we've got to think of the kids. Mysterio's got a fan base with the youngset who really like to see his cool moveset and I guess relate to someone small beating the big monstors of the WWF. Of course Mysterio's popular with every sort of fanbase as and really I don't think the WWE has a better option as a potential face champion. The ultimate cinderella story has to be done once and should of course be done before Mysterio's knees totally leave him. Mysterio for champ!

Benoit vs Orton from Raw was the MOTY from last year. Than you got the perfect Benoit vs Kane Raw match from last year which is unfortunately overlooked and the Benoit vs Michaels Showdown in the desert match. Benoit got absolutely nothing to work with in 2004 but every time he did he shined. Eddie's best was against Bradshaw which was very good, Rey and Big Show. I'd take Benoit from this year. 2005 I'd take Benoit as well (a lot of its due to the intensity factor which everybody knows I mark for) as I'm enjoying his work from match to match better. A week or two before Wrestlemania he was on and than did really well from than out with a 6 man tag, getting the absolute best he could out of a potentially bad situation at Mania, the very good match with Edge afterwards and the very good match with Christian the next week that had some great work especially from Benoit's comeback on. He's also been strong against Batista, Kane and Eddie himself. 2005 for Eddie? I loved the Smackdown match against Rey which is #1 or #2 match for this year. But this is the thing I absolutely hate about comparisons like this. Eddie has turned heel and is not a face which Benoit is. Their jobs are now different and it's not completely fair to compare them like that. The same reason why I don't like comparing the Rockers to the Midnight Express. Their roles were different - The Rockers were better as babyfaces but the I can't see them being as good a team if they were heels like the Express commonly were. I can't see the Express being better faces than the Rockers. Who was the better team? You can't honostly say. I love both guys.

This is one of my favourite matches ever and is actually a match I've shown to a few different people. Everyone loves it. Ohtani realising he screwed up after the dragon suplex is 100% pure gold. I must have actually watched this 20! some times over the years and I have it as Ohtani's best overall. One of the other cool things about this match is Benoit seconding Lyger. When I first this match in the VCR years ago I completely and totally marked out because it was something I was not expecting at all. You even see Lyger and Benoit communicating with each other some during the match and the Benoit/Lyger 5 star hug was tremendous in putting the match over. WP -- feeling the Lyger love after watch Lyger vs Benoit, Casas and Honaga tonight!

Sorry for kind of hijacking this thread. Yeah, I like Michaels inring work as a face better too. Benoit vs Kane was better than their PPV match. It's more exciting, the flow was smoother, it was more intense and they managed to finish off the "Kane/ Can Benoit make him tap or is it impossible?" story they started at the PPV. They also worked in a Benoit can't win by countout or pin rule which added some spice to the match. Great roleplaying too as you never forget Benoit's the small guy here and Kane is indeed the monstor. There are less rest holds in this one as there's only 1 and that's used nicely as a way to get the fans to rally behind Benoit. The ending brings the excitement because of the way the moves were upped and the conclusion which put the feud to rest.

What was it before? I liked Orton vs. Benoit a lot too. Benoit's intesity in the first part of the match was really cool and Orton held up his end of the match as well. I enjoyed Eddie vs. Rey too. I did find the botches annoying, especially the one that they did at Havoc as that move was performed so beautifully in 97. Eddie did however murder Rey's arm with some neat submission holds. I liked it, but their match from this year was better by quite a bit. I'm not sure. Benoit vs Michaels or Benoit vs Kane from Raw. With Eddie I liked the Bradshaw match and the Big Show one as well. This year some of my favs are Eddie vs Rey from Smackdown, Michaels vs Benjamin and Benoit vs Regal.

I remember liking this one. The ending was cool. My MOTY for 2004 has actually changed and is the Benoit vs Orton Raw title match now.

Is this the full version of the match Loss?

Detailed match review. I was going to say someting about this match after I watched it but I knew I'd be there for forever and a day trying to give it justice. This is a very interesting match and has a lot of stuff to talk about within it. My review? It's great. I've waited so long to see thing and thanks to S.C.M. I've finally been able to. One thing I liked about this was that it had me guessing what was going to happen throughout. There were many things I did not see coming and that was a definite plus for me. The ending was innovative and completely unfpredictable with Bret giving himself a sleeper in the ropes. Bret's insane for taking that dangerous spot and it gave the match a justifiable DQ. I now think Bret Hart is actually underrated after watching stuff like Bret vs Piper (which I love like anything) Dino Bravo, yet another terrific Mr. Perfect match, Ramon and the Undertaker here which is the best Bret vs Taker match I"ve seen. I now actually think Bret's underrated. After watching him vs Taker, Ramon, Bravo, the new Perfect match making the rounds, Piper which was absolutely fantastic and the Yokozuna cage match I give more than my props to Hart. Man, I can't wait for the books.

So I was watching some WSWA (Winnipeg league) from late 89/early 90 and the one of the two guys that impressed me the most was Bret Como. He was still learning in there but you could tell he was hungry and he was already good. The kind of guy you have to keep your eye because you know he has potential to be a star. He was trained by Les Thornton and Dynamite Kid according to his website. The weird thing is I haven't seen the guy work afterwards which must be fate playing some kind of cruel trick on me. Is anyone familiar with his best matches? http://www.moondogmanson.com/blackdragon/i....php?target=bio Interesting note -- "Bulldog" Bob Brown praised a Les Thornton vs Eddie Gilbert match from Kansas City.

I watched part of it tired out of my mind and with a worse headache than usual Rey vs Crazy was fun from what I saw. I liked how Rey got Crazy in the 619 posistion. Eddie was on commentary and a lot of the focus of the announcers was the chatter between them. Benoit vs Eddie was great and their best WWE match yet. "I love you like a brother" They apparantly cut away before Benoit's back of his neck started bleeding. THere's something wrong there as he had it taped up before the match even started.

Thanks for that info.

I thought we had a "Is this true or not?" discussion on this board but maybe I was imagining things? Anyway, this situation here has always intrigued me. Can anyone comment on it? Text taken from the match reviews folder Loss -- I've heard this several times. I've always wondered if it was true or just speculation. Has this been confirmed? So if this is indeed true and we step into the alleged mindset of the bookers that means that the bookers would risk turning everyone off of the PPV right off of the bat by giving Badd and Pillman enough time to have a bad match. That means their dislike of Pillman and Badd was greter than putting on a good product for the fans on a PPV nontheless. What on earth did these two do to have this albatross put upon their necks? But you see if someone told me back in 95 that Badd and Pillman would get about 30min on a PPV that would actually raise my elbow in thinking they can have a good match. Not a bad or horrible match so I don't quite get this logic of putting these guys out there to suffocate. I also never sensed WCW having anything against Johnny B. Badd during his WCW run either. Sure, he wasn't a top guy but I never thought that anyone was out to get him.

Has anyone heard anything about Benoit's condition?

I've heard this several times. I've always wondered if it was true or just speculation. Has this been confirmed? So if this is indeed true and we step into the alleged mindset of the bookers that means that the bookers would risk turning everyone off of the PPV right off of the bat by giving Badd and Pillman enough time to have a bad match. That means their dislike of Pillman and Badd was greter than putting on a good product for the fans on a PPV nontheless. What on earth did these two do to have this albatross put upon their necks? But you see if someone told me back in 95 that Badd and Pillman would get about 30min on a PPV that would actually raise my elbow in thinking they can have a good match. Not a bad or horrible match so I don't quite get this logic of putting these guys out there to suffocate. I also never sensed WCW having anything against Johnny B. Badd during his WCW run either. Sure, he wasn't a top guy but I never thought that anyone was out to get him.

Wait a sec. Are these just predictions or the current temporary plans?

I thought I'd put my old Benoit vs Lesnar thoughts here too since I changed my old post of this (from another board) slightly: Note about this match -- I believe they edited the time Benoit was in the Brock Lock. I remember having a house show report saying he was in for much longer. Yeah, I love this as it just connected with me. 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. Keep it simple stupid 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 to at least a degree. 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. Now while some matches are fun and can be full of great multistage transistions sometimes they just have too many of them. Seeing a sequence of counter after counter is often enthralling to watch but the problem in some matches is that it's done so often during certain bouts that it loses its meaning. All the well thought out sequences donn't mean anything if there isnt something more "simple" to show how great the countering later on is. 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.

I hope this is enough words for a review! BRIAN PILLMAN vs JOHNNY B. BADD FALL BRAWL 95 First time ever seeing this and it ruled. It was tough to watch though because the injuries here had definitely caught up to Pillman. He was trying with all his might but his body could only bring him so far. Still, he tried. The match itself was not perfect and lacked flow at times but it still worked. Pillman was just great in this. He turns heel slowly in it and it's pretty fun to watch. What is also cool is that the 95 BOSJ tourney must have inspired his moveset here some. They do a lot of "we're equal so we both hit moves at the same time bit" and that's a common theme throughout this. They also kick out of EVERYTHING including their trademark finishers. Nothing's going to work here for either competitor as both are determined not to lose. Each are bringing out stuff that looks special because you weren't seeing too much of this stuff at the time. It's going to take something truly special to win and it eventually does. Pillman destroys himself at the end with a dive through the ropes and an attempted Benoit like clothesline? from the inside of the ring. Than we got the ending where we have the final double knockdown showdown. Both wrestlers put on the speed here emphasing the importance of the situation and duck each other's clotheslines which just builds up the fans' thoughts of who really is superior where our thoughts than peak when we get the ultimate double knockown spot with a super fast double crossbody block. Who ends up being superior in a match of seemingly two equals determined to put on the show of their lives? Watch the match and find out.

Bulldogs

Steiners though it's very close.