[1998-01-24-WCW-Souled Out] Chris Benoit vs Raven

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[soup23]

Best Raven match ever? He does some smart stuff in this match like attacking Benoit at the onset with The Flock barred from ringside. However, this match lives and dies by Benoit and he gives one of his better overall performances. He has a great uncanny ability to make these matches feel like a war and he does that here. The stuff with the one single chair was a brilliant minimization ploy that got over the emphasis of all the moves delivered on the chair. It can be jarring to watch Benoit get bulldogged and dive his headbutt right onto the chair, but just judging that off of this match, he made the spots count and had the crowd going nuts with Benoit chants as they sold the damage. The crippler being locked in and Raven smiling and passing out gave more depth to his character than numerous promos of him whining inside a nursery. After the match,The Flock attacks and Dean Malenko makes a save. Him and Benoit eye each other in acknowledgment and an alliance is formed. (****)

[Migs]

This is great, and the intensity Benoit shows is exactly why he never needed to be a good talker in order to get over. When I started digging into the internet wrestling community in 1997, one of the best things was finding that there were a bunch of other people who enjoyed Chris Benoit matches as much as I did.

 

The storyline here is so simple, too, with Benoit going through Raven's lackeys until he finally gets to face Raven. Between this and the Flair-Hart feud, it stands in real contrast to how dull the convoluted nWo stuff feels. It's also why I bought WCW PPVs long after Nitro had started to go downhill - if there was a match you were excited about (that didn't involve the nWo), it generally delivered.

 

The bit with Raven smiling in the crossface is a great bit of character work.

 

I might go above **** on this one - it felt like the right length and right intensity.

[bradhindsight]

I wish WCW would have included a video highlighting the lead-up as understanding everything Benoit went through + the flock then being banned is a great story. Raven pays this off wonderfully, capped off with the smile in the crossface. The headbutt on the chair was wicked here. I may give this one a re-watch - ***3/4

[Loss]

Benoit is pretty over with this crowd. I could have done without the overly cute chair spots that didn't even really get much of a pop, but I did really like the layout of this and how it complemented the build to the match. Raven took most of the early part of the match before Benoit got a big comeback run. I like Raven holding his breath to sell the crossface too. Good on them saving all the Flock run-ins until after the finish. That's how you do it! This should have been the beginning of Benoit and Malenko as a tag team but it took another year for that to happen. This crowd is REALLY into Benoit and Malenko.

[Childs]

Hey, a good Raven match. I know it's verboten to dwell on it, but Chris Benoit was really fucking good. We haven't seen him in a ton of classics over the course of the decade, but he brought it night after night.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Raven vs Chris Benoit - WCW Souled Out 1998

 

"Raven Sucks!" chants ring out early and are eventually replaced by "Benoit! Benoit!" chants. Midcard acts that are over, well how about that! I am a pretty big fan of Raven character, but I freely admit he has very few great matches to his name, but this is probably his best in WCW. He really looked on his A-game punishing Benoit and working hims over with simple, but effective moves. The early surprise attack with dropkick off the apron and then using the railing and bulldog on chair were all great moments to keep relentless Benoit down. Benoit did a great job selling all these attacks and how even though he usually only has one gear: forward; Raven has effectively stymied. The one issue with this segment was Raven almost worked it too neutral. The reason he was getting heat was because his character was so detestable, but besides the sneak attack he was not really doing anything reprehensible. I think with some more heeling and bit more chickenshit, this would have built to an even better Benoit home stretch and a bigger crowd reaction. Still for Raven on offense this was really good shit. I love the Benoit transition being a drop toehold onto the chair calling back to Raven doing that to Scotty Riggs (one of most impactful moments of my childhood. I thought that was some fucked up shit back then). Benoit absolutely and royally kicks the ever loving shit out of Raven. Give Raven credit he was selling, bumping and stooging for Benoit and making him look great. I wish I watched the angle leading up to this because it would have made the beating all the sweeter, but I remember enough about Raven to get me behind Benoit. In what may have been the stupidest fucking thing of all time, Benoit does a diving headbutt onto a chair that is Raven's face. My Dad used to shit all over Benoit for just doing the diving headbutt. This just takes it to a whole new level. The finish stretch is short and compact and put everything that needs to be. They tease a bit of drama with Raven nailing a DDT out of a Northern Lights Suplex. So now you don't know who will win because Raven is beat up he can't capitalize. When he goes for it again, Benoit puts him in the crossface, Raven enjoys the pain of the Crossface before passing out. You put over Raven as this sick masochist and Benoit as a unrelenting badass. I think if Raven reminds us why he is a heel during that opening stretch that this becomes the match of the night on a surprisingly great card. As it stands, it is very good match, but just missing that little something. ***3/4

[PeteF3]

Yeah, probably Raven's best singles match--and it's not a broomstick job as he brings his (orthopedic) working boots here. There are some good payback spots giving this more structure than a typical ECW run-in-fest, like Benoit doing the drop toehold on the chair and then Raven taking a bump into the guardrail as Benoit did at the outset. Huge pop for the Crossface, and I'm going to become a broken record shaking my head at how WCW didn't capitalize on all these hugely over mid-carders, aren't I? Raven's pre-match spiel is also good--quick, to the point, and actually serves a purpose as Raven promises to "feast on Benoit's pain" and then does exactly that at the finish. The only big knock on this is the cringeworthy-in-hindsight and monumentally stupid diving headbutt onto the chair.

[TravJ1979]

Raven opens with his sovereign citizen promo about he doesn't conform. Eh, I wasn't in to this as much as everyone else seems to have been. It wasn't bad, but a decent mid-card match. Really no complaints other than it didn't stand out as anything these guys haven't done before.

 

RATING: Nothing I think I'd need to see again.