RaiZ-R

Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho - WWF Intercontinental Title Lader Match - Royal Rumble '01

In the build video before the match, right at the end, there's a really creepy bit where Benoit has Jericho in the crossface and Benoit looks at the camera, like he was looking right at you. It scares me every time I watch this match, and I've watched it at least three times before writing this to make notes as well as to simply enjoy it like the little wrestling mark I am. From the video it seems these two spent a lot of time in the ring together in the lead up to this match, in an almost Flair/Steamboat-esque manner.

JR comments on how Benoit and Saturn attacked Jericho and worked over his left arm the SmackDown previous to this show. He sells it well.

As soon as both men are in the ring they start slugging it out. Benoit goes for the left arm of Jericho almost constantly in the early going, using ring posts and steps as weapons. They work quite stiff, comparable to the original HBK/Razor match at Wrestlemania 10, which is rare now, with acorabatics and fancy looking aerial moves often taking precedent over convincing offence. Not here though. Vicious ladder shots and a ridiculous chair shot to Benoit's head mid-Suicide Dive, which was awesome as well as ominous. There are some very innotive spots in here, such as when Jericho sits Benoit in the ladder that is positioned in the corner and then climbs up the ropes and performs, what is almost a Side Russian Leg Sweep from the top, and Benoit Back Dropping Jericho over the rope to the floor. The modified Octopus strech on the top of the ladder is also very, very cool.

Benoit sinches in the Crossface for what feels like a long time, making Jericho tap (which obviously achieves nothing in a ladder match) he then flings Jericho shoulder-first into the ring post. It's a section of offence that should be sold, but it isn't. Straight after that, and I do me straight after, Jericho lifts him up and throws him into the ladder and then takes control. He then rams Benoit into the corner with the ladder and sets it up where he stands, begining to climb it. I can see the idea here, Jericho climbs one side, Benoit the other, setting up the Superplex spot... But surely, anyone with a brain would simply push the ladder over while Jericho was climbing it? I get that the Superplex tease is cool and creates tension, but as far as psychology goes it's massively flawed. Jericho's Superplex fails, and instead we get the Flying Headbutt (which I'll admit is crazy ace) making the whole spot feel a little pointless, especially as Benoit misses the move.

Cleverly Jericho pins Benoit under the ladder as he climbs it... Even more clever, Benoit powers out and topples Y2J off the ladder, across the top rope, and out of the ring. Jericho does the same thing to Benoit moments later (with Benoit toppling right over the top and bouncing like a rubber ball). It's the move that finishes the Crippler off, but King's commentary ruins it. As Jericho reaches the top of the ladder, with Benoit still on the floor, King says "He's got it" in disappointment, five seconds later he did indeed have it, and it may only be a small niggle but it pissed me right off and ruined the finish. King shouold have been screaming for Chris Benoit to get up, not giving up on the man he'd supported all the way through, and while JR was on form throughout, this slip by King irritated the crap out of me personal and really hindered the finish in my eyes.

It's also worth noting that this match includes a helluvalot of head shots and bumps for Benoit, and although there's no debating they were great to watch at the time, his altered state at the time of his death and all of the speculation of the toll taken on his brain due to years of working so stiff (while obviously also abusing steroids) makes it a little harder to swallow unfortunately. This is possibly the first match featuring Benoit I've watched following the tragedy, and it suffered from my conscience playing Devil's advocate, so take my rating of it with a pinch of salt. If you're able to put aside your personal feelings about what happened while watching this, as it is possibly one of the best ladder matches of all time.

***3/4

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King Steventon

Benoit took a lot of ridiculous head bumps but I honestly think their chairshot/suicide dive one in that match is the worst one of all. He almost topped it in the Summerslam Orton match, though.

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RaiZ-R

Including the Suicide Dive chair shot, I can think of four ridiculous headshots he took in the match off the top of my head. Two with the ladder, and the missed Flying Headbutt. The man sacrificed a lot for his craft.

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Tommy Platinum

I have to say, as great as that match is (I'd rate it a little higher than you did), the finish really annoyed me. Considering everything they had done to each other, it seemed a little weak and anticlimactic for it to end with Benoit just being bundled out of the ring. Also, it was annoying as hell when Benoit started getting up too early, so he had to just awkwardly pretend he couldn't get to his feet as Jericho took an age to get the belt down. Would have been better if Benoit had actually entered the ring and just lay at the bottom of the ladder by the time Jericho got his hands on the belt. Would have been more dramatic and less awkward/unrealistic.

That said, great match with some very nice and innovative spots.

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RaiZ-R

That irritated me a little, but the way he landed, and bounced, made it less annoying for me. I felt it believeable that he couldn't get up properly, due to the hard landing, and blame the issue more on the director putting the camera on him, rather than concentrating on Jericho as he should have done.

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Tommy Platinum

I just watched both the Hardcore Title match and the "Inaugural Brawl" from Invasion and I don't think either match is worthy of a place in my top 100.

The hardcore match is fun, no doubt about that, but I certainly wouldn't call it a great match. It's mainly made good by a few awesome spots, notably the Van Daminator into a chair off the stage, and also by RVD's epic selling, particularly of the DDT and the Suplex near the end. It's better than pretty much every other hardcore title match ever (correct me if you feel I'm forgetting something) but still not great, just good for me. Finish with the Five Star onto the belt was pretty meh. It's a great move but it's not believable that the hardcore title would make it much more painful.

I'd give it about ***1/2

The inaugural brawl is great at first, with the brawling outside and Austin coming down kicking ass. There's so much drama and emotion and it really seems wild and out of control, but once it develops into a standard 5 on 5 tag match, it becomes pretty boring at times. The crowd are hot which helps it, but it doesn't really have anything memorable which makes it stand out until near the end, when it breaks down into a huge brawl again and you have the table spots and such. For positives, you have the Dudleys double team stuff and Angle's greatness. Screwjob ending was shocking at the time for me, but hardly great, and pretty obvious looking back. The match also seemed too much of a mismatch. Yes the Dudleys have been a team for god knows how long and that helped the Alliance team, but the Dudleys, Rhino, Booker and DDP were never made to look a match for Taker, Kane, Austin, Jericho and Angle. This was proved as they needed a WWF guy to turn for them to win. Angle was the best man in the match, showing great intensity whenever he was involved.

Side note: with Shane, Vince, Heyman, Steph as well as the 10 competitors coming out before the match, the entrances took fucking AGES, and this is a PPV which already has about 13 matches crammed onto the card.

***1/2 for this too.

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iamthedestroyer

I wouldn't call it a MOTY candidate, but since it is better than a few of those listed I'll put it out there. IC Belt, Edge VS Lance Storm at SummerSlam.

Tommy Platinum

Just rewatched the Austin/Angle Summerslam match.

Fucking great match. Will probably be top 10 on my list, maybe higher. I love the big match feel and how things like showing the locker rooms in the back makes it seem like life or death, and I would agree with Steve's assessment that it's one of the best big match feels the WWE has ever created. The intensity from both men is off the charts and this is evident right from the start with the epic staredown. Angle's gutsy, badass face character is epic here, and it's easily the best example of Austin's psychotic heel persona. I love the part when Austin basically snaps after Angle kicks out of the Stunner, hitting a 2nd stunner which takes Angle out of the ring and then just brutalising him on the outside, beating him to a bloody pulp by hitting his head into the ringpost over and over. It's simple, but it's just so brutal. Also epic when Angle manages to lock in the anklelock on the outside on the barricade, and he's screaming "WOOO!" with blood all over his face. The suplexes on the outside are also great, and the match continues to tell a great story with Angle fighting with everything he's got to become Champion. The commentators really do a great job here contributing to the huge feel of the match. There are some great near falls towards the end with Angle kicking out of ANOTHER stunner (3rd of the match), Austin kicking out of the Angle slam etc. The only thing which could possibly bring it down is the finish, with Austin assaulting referees and Nick Patrick calling for the bell rather than counting the fall, with Angle covering Austin. I think the finish worked really well. I remember hating Nick Patrick so much at the time, and I think the whole screwjob ending was great. Also, the aftermath with Angle getting Patrick in the anklelock and JR screaming "BREAK HIS DAMN ANKLE" among other things, was awesome. I remember watching it live and it was such a disappointment Angle didn't win. Felt like the end of the world.

Pretty damn epic match. Probably give it ****3/4.

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King Steventon

Heel Austin really was the saving grace of the Invasion angle. Still need to rewatch the '03 Benoit match but right now I have it as my no.1 Angle match.

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Tommy Platinum

I'm thinking right now that 2001 will have 3 matches in my top 10, easily. Then there will be others that could get close. That's pretty good for one single year.

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