Loss

HHH v Chris Jericho - WWF Smackdown 04/05/01 My review last summer at TSM: Revised: In all other televised HHH/Jericho matches I've covered so far, they've started off with Jericho dominating the early stages, but here, we see HHH take control first; perhaps he felt he needed to look really good early because the bookers were feeding Jericho so many hope spots later. Regardless of why, it hurts the match, as the gap between the two has grown wider and wider over the previous year, and the crowd has less reason to care about this match than they would have just 12 months earlier. If it shows you how much heat he has lost, when HHH is in control, the crowd chants "Slut!" at Stephanie instead of "Y2J!" at Jericho, but to the credit of the workers, they eventually turn that around. They miss an opportunity, however, when Jericho misses a missile dropkick and starts selling his knee, only for HHH to never capitalize on it. Regal comes in with a chair, but Jericho stops him and delivers the chairshot himself. Jericho then applies the Walls on HHH, and HHH is tapping, but Stephanie comes in. So, Jericho lets go of that hold and applies the move to Stephanie, but HHH hits him with a chair and everyone expects the match to be over, but Jericho kicks out. It's the best false finish of the match, but it's really only a good idea if the plan is to put Jericho over, because the crowd starts rallying in that direction, obviously thinking they're about to see what they gave up on long ago. HHH quickly kills that with the pedigree though, and in the spring of 2001, the space between HHH, Austin and everyone else couldn't have been greater, to a point where the product suffered miserably. With Rock sidelined and Austin?s issues with Undertaker and Kane old news, it would have only made sense to elevate Jericho and Chris Benoit, but sense meant little to the company at this point. Jericho spent the next two months spinning his wheels in a revenge feud with Regal while HHH had absolutely no reason to win the Intercontinental title.

Steve Austin v Kurt Angle - WWF Smackdown 03/15/01 (No DQ) TSM review from last summer: Revised: Steve Austin v Kurt Angle ? WWF Smackdown 03/01/01 Holy shit, this is one of the best matches Austin and Angle have ever had, and it?s gone largely ignored. Angle was a wrestler possessed in the weeks following his loss to The Rock, and that aggression is here in spades. Angle is so effective in this role that it makes everything else he does look pale by comparison. The brawling nature of this match makes for a more fun outing, and this just may be the closest to Austin Versus Angle Done Right that we?ve ever seen. There are all sorts of nifty little advances on the clich?s of their typical matches that we don?t normally get to see, the most notable of which is Angle actually connecting with the moonsault for a change. Angle comes out of this even angrier, which is a good thing, even if it wasn?t followed with anything else, while Austin goes over another good worker in the build to Wrestlemania. Yes, there are some of the usual annoying tactics and yes, the match needed more time to develop, but as a short TV match, it doesn?t get much more fun than this. That's the good. And as much as Austin and Angle deserve credit for creating a fun match here, Rock deserves equal credit. He's at ringside and his presence overwhelms the match a little too much at times, as he stands up while he does commentary and the cameras switch mostly over to him. Rock also works several spots throughout the match, and there are several moments where Rock goes crashing into Austin or Angle puts them in situations where they accidentally hit each other. That sort of thing is fun, but it's also no wonder that Rock was being booed so strongly in the build to 'Mania, and it's no wonder that they had to start confiscating anti-Rock signs in the crowd. For all of Vince's crowing about freedom of expression, he sure does his best to make sure others don't get the opportunity to express themselves, including his paying customers, but that's another rant. The rant at hand is that this match, while incredibly chaotic, still managed to be fun, if only because all three guys were very over and the match is benefitted by Rock's presence because they're able to create so many unexpected spots. Nicely, the show a clip of Angle putting Debra in the anklelock on RAW, a part of the Austin/Rock storyline that was eventually wisely aborted, but it does give Austin a reason to come to the ring on a mission -- he always wrestled at full speed, to a point where when he needed to be even more pissed off, it wasn't typically conveyed properly, but it sure helped here. ***

HHH v Chris Jericho - WWF Smackdown 02/08/01 TSM review last summer: Revised: For all the ballyhooed drama between HHH and Jericho, both on screen and in real life, Jericho has traditionally been HHH?s best opponent, and this match is yet another show of evidence to support that. HHH surprisingly does a good job of giving Jericho credibility through allowing him to remain on offense for most of the match, and even though Jericho loses, he is allowed to get his heat back with a Walls of Jericho after the encounter was over. This was about as good as a throwaway seven-minute match between these two could possibly be, which means it had little to offer in terms of long-term impact or memory, but was fun enough to not be a waste of time. Admittedly, the booking leading into this one was very confusing. The planned main event was Jericho versus Billy Gunn. HHH attacked Gunn backstage, which led to him taking Jericho?s place. Strangely, Jericho was representing HHH in the match while Gunn was representing Austin, which means logically, when HHH replaced Gunn, he should have been representing Austin. The winning side would pick the stipulations for No Way Out, but HHH still got to choose the stipulations. It?s always interesting to notice how almost every facet of the booking is steered in a direction that keeps Hunter looking better than everyone else and smarter than everyone else at all times. Some things never change. HHH just letting go of the pedigree so he can be backdropped out of it instead of creating some type of struggle to counter the move has always bugged me, but it's definitely a problem here. Jericho is a house of fire early on, running through his usual offense and also hitting a springboard shoulderblock. HHH tries to use the steel steps to his advantage and Jericho counters that by climbing them and diving backwards on him. Michael Cole is nauseously frustrating here, as they work the same same sequence they worked in their 06/14 match, a match I watched just minutes prior to this one, and he says, "I don't think I've ever seen that before." Well, I have. It's not that I expect him to remember that, but the announcers are largely clueless throughout, as when Cole reminds Lawler of Jericho winning the title and having it reversed the previous year, it's obvious Lawler has completely forgotten about that storyline and just says "Well, I'd forget about that if I were you." Back to the match, it's obvious that while Jericho is still over, his peak is behind him, as he doesn't get nearly the heat he got eight months prior, despite working some of the same segments, despite having a pre-match opportunity to run down Stephanie and despite this match taking place in Oklahoma City, which is normally a pretty hot crowd. We also get Eddy Guerrero interfering to cost Jericho the match, and Steph gets in her shots as well. Had Stephanie been a wrestler, Jericho/Stephanie would have had the best buildup of any match in 2001, because they spent so much time feuding them with each other, but they never really found a way to translate that into matches of any kind where she sent a swarm of people after him. As a result, they both ended up looking like they were fighting sexual tension toward one another, and we were all just waiting for them to make out and mean it at a moment's notice. The match is a total afterthought once the bell rings, as Austin immediately comes out and has a staredown with HHH. In a nice touch, since Austin can't touch HHH, they let Jericho get his heat back by doing a post-match Walls of Jericho on HHH while Austin screams in his face, but the point being made that entire time is that Austin has gotten the best of HHH yet again, not Jericho. Sharing a beer with Steve post-match might have made Y2J seem cool and important.

The Rock & Chris Jericho v Chris Benoit & Big Show - WWF RAW 01/22/01 TSM review last summer: Revised: You would think more would be said about this match, but it has been largely forgotten. This is unfortunate, as it?s one of the best TV matches of 2001 with everyone playing their roles to near perfection. There is the problem of the match being isolated from all incidents surrounding it ? the wrestlers are feuding with each other at this point, but they?re not really feuding in this match. Jericho and Benoit show no ill effects of the brutal ladder match they had the night before, but they wrestle some really fun fast-paced sequences heavy on lariats and flying forearms and most of the other trademark moves of both men. Jericho is temporarily carted out after a Big Show ambush and Rock is left alone with Show and Benoit. Rock and Benoit work the majority of the match against each other, and as usual, they have terrific chemistry, and together, they serve the meat and potatoes of this match. Rock has still not completely grasped the right way to sell the crossface; his facial expressions are spot on, but he?s just not flexible enough to be in the right position and he starts reaching for the ropes far too early and easily. Aside from that faux pas, the two play off of each other in fun ways. The fact that Chris Benoit could play a ruthless enough heel to bring sympathy on The Rock, all the while acting as a believable threat, is an accomplishment, and no small one at that. Big Show is slow and lumbering, but plays the fearsome monster as well as can be expected ? he?s mostly on the apron, which is precisely where he should be; the fear and anticipation for him to enter the ring and kick ass will always and should always be greater than what he actually brings to the table once he interjects himself if he?s ever to become this generation?s Andre. In this match, he hits his spots and gets out, which is exactly what he needed to do. Rock is left alone against two strong heels and fights with everything he has to overcome the odds, which is a fun story in itself. He creates his own openings, and interestingly enough, after the other guy tags in, they work it like Rock just made a hot tag to himself, which is a cool twist that is better seen than explained. Jericho makes a triumphant return, clenching his ribs and doubling over in pain. His facial expressions are tremendous and he is effective in garnering sympathy from the crowd, and together, Rock and Jericho now look like the underdogs, despite being the two biggest stars in the match. Jericho attacks Benoit with the last bit of energy he has before collapsing at ringside, but it's even to even the socre, as Rock ends up securing the victory for his team. This angers Show to a point that he chokeslams both of his opponents and his partner, but fortunately, they save the manic monster behavior for after the match instead of distracting from what the workers were doing bell-to-bell. Jericho came out of this match more courageous and resourceful, Rock more resilient and Big Show more fearsome. Benoit carried the match and made the other three look good, but was unfortunately sacrificed for the greater good. This is worth seeing, and how it managed to slip under the radar is beyond me. ***

Steve Austin v Kurt Angle - WWF RAW 01/08/01 Here is the review I did when I covered this match at TSM a while back: Ok, now here it is revised: The buildup to this match was almost ridiculous, as even some main events on pay-per-view later in the year wouldn?t get the same hype. This was the result of a single elimination tournament and this episode of RAW was frontloaded ? and I do mean frontloaded ? with video packages and interviews to celebrate and promote this match. This would all be fine and dandy if the same match hadn?t happened just a few weeks earlier on the same show with the same exact finish to boot! That encounter and this encounter were only different in the hype they received and the amount of time the workers were allotted. It was the similarities between the two matches that was most telling ? Angle still had a lot to learn, Austin was better than he had been in years and HHH would always be the real winner in the end. Both are mostly basic in the moves they execute, but Austin has a far better sense of timing and structure. As you?d expect, his most effective moves are Lou Thesz presses, clotheslines, stomps and vertical suplexes, but he brings a level of excitement and credibility to the match that Angle lacks. Angle is lost between moves, as he keeps returning to the well with the overhead belly-to-belly suplex, and he doesn?t really pay attention to the crowd. When Angle is in control, the match starts to resemble a video game. They briefly explore the theme of Angle being the better wrestler and Austin being the better brawler, but it's forgotten once Angle takes control and starts throwing repeated, repeated, repeated, repeated overhead belly-to-belly suplexes. It's sold like he's being worn down by Ross, but Austin shouldn't know more suplex variations than Angle when he's in control, as earlier in the match, he does a gutwrench suplex, two vertical suplexes, and a belly-to-back suplex. The end result is the same, but variety is the spice of life, and it makes the match more interesting. One bad thing about Steve Austin matches, at least as a babyface, that hampers him is that it's difficult for the audience to buy false finishes because all of his matches end in a stunner. That's more of a WWF-style problem than anything, as Austin showed many times in WCW that he was definitely capable of coming up with multiple finishers when necessary, but there are times where he performs a big move, and the crowd doesn't quite light up like they should, simply because they know the match isn't over. The best sequence of the match sees about seven consecutive reversals of Angle slams and stunners before Austin finally gets in the move, but this is when the match completely falls apart. That's nothing compared to the worst part of this match, though, which is the finish and outside interference. HHH returns and Angle is immediately thrown outside the ring, showing the audience who Austin sees as more important, all the while burying both Angle and the WWF World title. We also have William Regal running in with a pipe mid-match and trying to get revenge, only for Austin to fight him off. It was obvious he was there as a prop, so the pipe would have a logical reason to be there later on when HHH attacked Austin with it. Prior to the finish, Austin actually did a decent job of making Angle look like he deserved to be the champ, but any strength contained in the work is negated by post-match booking. The last image of the match is one of HHH standing over Austin, and quite frankly, a match that received this much promotion needed a clean finish without the typical chicanery from the writers. It also saddens me that Jim Ross gets so involved in Steve Austin matches and Kurt Angle matches, but he can't be bothered to do the same when guys like The Rock and Chris Jericho are outworking them later in the year. He's human and has his favorites, but he has always had his favorites, and before the Attitude era, he was always professional enough to call all matches with the same gusto and enthusiasm. For all the matches they?ve had and all the time they?ve spent feuding, we still have yet to see Steve Austin versus Kurt Angle done right ? Austin as the ask-no-quarter, give-no-quarter redneck, beer-swilling son of a bitch (who the fans have the nerve to cheer not in spite of his disposition, but because of his disposition) versus Kurt Angle, the noble and somewhat tragic character who is booed for promoting more conservative values and patriotism, playing the hero to an audience that wouldn?t piss on him if he was on fire. It resembles a certain other rivalry in many ways, but we never saw that really exploited to its fullest ? it was instead a feud that relied on comedy and clich?s and did little to make Angle a major player.

Chris Benoit v Matt Hardy - WWF RAW 06/14/00 This match got a lot of praise at the time, with some even going as far as to call it a TV MOTYC, but there were far better televised matches that year with more heat, and Hardy is so nervous here that it hurts the match a little. Granted, he's still sound, but he's also relying too much on his brother's trademark spots to get a pop, and both are having to work in front of a crowd that completely lost their energy when HHH pinned Chris Jericho earlier in the night. For that reason, the match doesn't have the heat it should, although Matt is a more complete wrestler than Jeff, as Benoit would learn. He has a reversal for nearly all of Benoit's trademark spots, and even a few of his non-trademark spots, as he turns a powerbomb attempt by Benoit into a Russian legsweep, repeatedly counters the crossface into his own pin attempt, and in the best spot of the match, reverses a Benoit vertical suplex attempt into a suplex outside the ring. This wasn't a typical suplex to the floor, as Matt went down with him instead of staying on the apron. He gets Benoit vulnerable outside and charges toward him, and Benoit tries to back bodydrop him off of a blind charge, but Hardy reverses that into a DDT on the floor. Putting Benoit in this much peril and expecting him to fight back required more time in this match, more offense from Hardy, and more build to the finish. They went to some extremes (I guess because Matt was in Team Extreme) in constructing this, and spots like the double TKO and the psychology of all the reversals needed more time to get the spotlight they deserved. Another problem this match faces is that Matt looks so ordinary by comparison, as he isn't nearly as aggressive or versatile as Benoit, and it shows, despite his best efforts. This match has its plusses, and this match had the potential to rock the house, but it should have come earlier in the night and it should have been given five more minutes at the very least. As it stands, it looks more like a prelude than the real thing.

HHH v Chris Jericho - WWF RAW 06/14/00 In an interesting bit of trivia that nearly everyone has forgotten, this segment drew an 8.4 quarter hour, tying it with the "This Is Your Life" segment in September of 1999 between Rock and Foley, and putting it in the top five quarter hours of the era. Perhaps that's a reflection of how red hot Chris Jericho was at the time, as he gets a Rock or Austin-level pop for his arrival, and the crowd completely turns on the show when HHH wins, as I'll explain later with Benoit v Matt Hardy. This is probably the Flair/Steamboat of relatively short TV matches, as they toss everything out there in a very short period of time, but they establish a pace that compliments the match well, and nothing seems rushed, just energetic. Jericho does all sorts of moves, a few of which he doesn't pull out in every match -- a lariat, a missile dropkick, flying forearm, facebuster, spinning heel kick and even a top rope huracanrana! HHH even shows more tenacity and heel tendencies than he often did, perhaps because he's feeding off the rabid crowd. Jericho eats *nine* consecutive shoulderblocks in the corner by HHH, which are delivered just about as quickly as humanly possible. HHH also uses a DDT, which is rare for him, and a sleeper, which is terrific in the context of this match because Jericho is selling it perfectly and the crowd is so behind him. Jericho counters the pedigree to the Walls, but HHH punches out, which causes Jericho to bounce backwards into the turnbuckle and fall forward on Hunter's crotch. They lifted the Sting spot, and it definitely worked! HHH tries to cheat by using the belt and relying on interference from Stephanie, and Jericho thwarts both attempts, before HHH sneaks in a belt shot and finishes him off with the pedigree. If this crowd was a balloon, this finish was a needle. Watching the crowd support Jericho as much as they do, and watching HHH seemingly be willing to do anything to make him look good -- including taking the top rope huracanrana -- except lose to him, makes it seem like they're building toward a huge Jericho win in the future, but that wasn't to be, and that's sad. I think it's easy to forget how over and how poised he was to be a top babyface at that point in time, and how the company reacted to that sums up the problems they've had over the last four years quite nicely. ***1/4

Chris Benoit v Jeff Hardy - WWF Smackdown 06/11/00 This is too short to really be all that good, but it's delightfully fun, as Benoit takes great pleasure in destroying Jeff Hardy in as many ways as he can possibly find. Jeff teases comebacks at times, and his highspots are more crisp than perhaps I've ever seen them, even if he does them too often -- his 450, even if it was missed, look great, as did his somersault plancha and senton bomb. Benoit is just a great catcher for Jeff, but Jeff has a tendency to not be capable of doing much *except* climbing the ropes and taking the match to the air. Benoit does his best to keep him grounded and kicks him down in the corner, and finally counters every move Jeff tries and locks in a crossface. The post-match angle with Benoit offering a handshake and hitting Jeff in the face with the belt seals it, but this match would have been worse, not better, had it gone longer, as Jeff didn't really have anything going except for the highspots. His selling of Benoit's full-fledged attack is merely average, and he'd be lost if Benoit didn't set up all of his highspots so well.

Shawn Michaels Kid's run was short, but AWESOME. Michaels, however, has a 10-year run where he was pretty good most of the time and another three-year comeback that has had some good mixed in.

The Rock Ted will still have success in this tournament.

HHH I hate doing this, but he's drawn more money, had better matches and had more time on top. What's to contest?

Eddy Guerrero I was trying to explain this without stating the obvious, but I realized there's not a way to do so.

Mick Foley Not really much question here.

Rick Martel Both are cases where they've peaked outside the company, and both were about at the same place on the card, but Martel had the ability to do anything, singles/tags, face/heel, and he could have conceivably main evented *or* curtain jerked without seeming forced either way. Taijiri, talented as he is, works in a company that hinders his style and is very pigeonholed into a specific role.

Davey Boy Smith Piper's greatest success came between 1984 and 1987, which was admittedly a HUGE period for him, but Davey Boy was very successful within the tag division at the same time and was having better matches. He then came back in 1991 and had another two year run, and came back again in 1994 and had a strong three-year run. Worked face, worked heel, and was a PPV foil to Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Diesel on top. Headlined the biggest house in company history in 1992, and if you made a list of the top 20 matches of the 90s for this company, Davey Boy would probably be in nearly half of them in some capacity. Bret and Shawn would be the only ones from that era who had more great matches.

Bret Hart Perhaps this would be competitive if Brock had stuck around and honed his skills for another 10-15 years, but honestly, there is no one in this entire tournament that I will vote for against Bret.

Yeah, back in January, they just let his contract expire because they didn't think it was an important enough issue to worry about. How crazy is that! There were also problems coming up with a plan for Wrestlemania, as Rock and Vince couldn't agree on anything, and the basic feeling according to Meltzer was that HHH had used his influence to finally drive Rock out of the company.

Vote for the wrestler that you think had the better career in WWE (whether you base that on impact or match quality is your decision), from 1985 to 2005. Voting will end Sunday morning. Please give the wrestler's name first and any explanation thereafter. Thanks.

Vote for the wrestler that you think had the better career in WWE (whether you base that on impact or match quality is your decision), from 1985 to 2005. Voting will end Sunday morning. Please give the wrestler's name first and any explanation thereafter. Thanks.

Vote for the wrestler that you think had the better career in WWE (whether you base that on impact or match quality is your decision), from 1985 to 2005. Voting will end Sunday morning. Please give the wrestler's name first and any explanation thereafter. Thanks.

Vote for the wrestler that you think had the better career in WWE (whether you base that on impact or match quality is your decision), from 1985 to 2005. Voting will end Sunday morning. Please give the wrestler's name first and any explanation thereafter. Thanks.

Vote for the wrestler that you think had the better career in WWE (whether you base that on impact or match quality is your decision), from 1985 to 2005. Voting will end Sunday morning. Please give the wrestler's name first and any explanation thereafter. Thanks.

Vote for the wrestler that you think had the better career in WWE (whether you base that on impact or match quality is your decision), from 1985 to 2005. Voting will end Sunday morning. Please give the wrestler's name first and any explanation thereafter. Thanks.

Vote for the wrestler that you think had the better career in WWE (whether you base that on impact or match quality is your decision), from 1985 to 2005. Voting will end Sunday morning. Please give the wrestler's name first and any explanation thereafter. Thanks.

Vote for the wrestler that you think had the better career in WWE (whether you base that on impact or match quality is your decision), from 1985 to 2005. Voting will end Sunday morning. Please give the wrestler's name first and any explanation thereafter. Thanks.