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[2000-01-16-WCW-Souled Out] Chris Benoit vs Sid


Loss

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WHOA. I think this might be the best carryjob I've ever seen. This match was awesome. Benoit plays ragdoll for Sid, bumping like a madman while also delivering some great offense to chop him down to size and work over his knee. Benoit was on offense for 90% of this after being tossed around early on, but each time Sid teased a comeback, the place popped huge for him and Benoit did big exaggerated bumps for his kickouts and chokeslams and other brief comebacks. Sid tapped quick for Benoit's crossface -- a little too quick -- which brought this down some for me, especially after working over Sid's knee the whole time, which has nothing to do with the crossface. Obviously that was done for political reasons, since Benoit was quitting to go to the WWF and this was a last-ditch attempt to convince him to stick around, so they needed an out to reverse the decision. But the body of the match was fantastic, and you can bring up Sid's matches with Shawn or Bret all you want, but I've never seen a singles match with him anywhere near this good. ***3/4

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This was a great finish away from being a MOTYC. The ultimate F you on the way out by Benoit as he performed a great performance here taking an ass whipping and then leading one focusing around chopping the giant down and attacking Sid's leg. The way he set that up leading to Sid's comebacks was amazing and really had the crowd going nuts. Later era Tony is of course not great but he gets one more great call in with "hes going to win the DAMN match" when Sid chokeslams Benoit. Up to this point in 2000, a PG-13 on Saturday Night performance has been the most interesting thing so it was truly amazing how much gravity the wrestlers put into this match. Stuff like Arn's speech beforehand and the locker room emptying out artificially inflate that of course, but the work of the wrestlers especially Benoit made it ring true and not seem hollow. Finish allows WCW to have a cop out and the Nash promo at the end I certainly could do without as it pissed me the fuck off, but otherwise an amazing story driven match that showed Benoit could main event against any type of guy. ****1/4

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  • 1 month later...

Even though Sid was theoretically the monster, he basically worked this from underneath. Benoit did the stalking and all the cutoff spots. Sid actually played his part well, never letting his ego get in the way of selling. And he didn't do enough for his awkwardness to come into play. Benoit delivered a solid attack as you'd expect. The finish was crap, even if it was somewhat of a necessary evil given Benoit's circumstances. I didn't like this as much as Loss or Chad. They did the best match they could but never tapped into anything legitimately stirring. Maybe *** or ***1/2 but nowhere near a MOTYC.

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Gotta throw some love at this one. Kind of a hidden gem as Benoit sold the fact that Sid was an unstoppable monster and then flipped the tables with a great attack on the leg. Benoit's cutoffs here were so perfect and well-timed that by the time Sid hit that chokeslam they had peaked the match in great fashion. Totally a match that got the most out of its limited parts. I loved it.

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Man, you guys weren't kidding about this one. From Arn's promo to Buffer's introductions and the locker room clearing out, this felt like something special. I didn't expect to hear Bobby, Tony and Tenay on commentary, but they treated this seriously and made it seem like vintage Monday Nigjt Wars WCW. Sid was great working from underneath. The finish sucked worse than a screw job, but this was without doubt one of the best matches of the month.

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This match is a lot better than you would expect it to be. This reminded me of the Diesel vs Bret series of matches. Sid isn't known to be one of the best wrestlers, but this certainly didn't feel like Benoit was carrying him. This match was centered around a simple strategy of Benoit going after Sid's leg, with Sid doing an excellent job of selling. The fast tap out to the crossface was kind of lame, but it doesn't take too much away from this one.

 

***3/4

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  • 1 month later...

I agree with you guys about how much better this match is than one would expect it to be. I don't agree that it's better than the Bret vs Diesel matches. At least, I like those Bret matches better. Maybe it's because Kevin Nash, for all of his personal unpleasantness, actually has a personality in the ring.

 

The weakness here for me is everything but the match. The commentary is particularly bad, and the after segment is certainly representative of its era.

 

But it's definitely nice to be surprised by late era WCW, even if I do still have difficulty watching Benoit matches.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Where does this rank among in Sid's career? Hell of a start with some really nice lockups, which I always appreciate. We quickly move to Sid's strengths with a power game featuring a lariat on the floor and a nice front suplex toss. It all looked really nice and tight, but undoubtedly much of the credit for that goes to Benoit and how strongly he bumped and put it over. What really shocked me here was Sid actually selling the leg throughout the match as Benoit focused his attack there. We're talking dropkicks to the leg, a figure-four, even a dragon screw to *SID*. Some great action down the stretch including Sid taking a German and putting over Benoit as his equal before hulking up and hitting some big spots of his own.

 

Perhaps I'm being harsh here, but the finish really held this back for me even if I loved the match until then. Simply wish all the leg work would've played more into the finish, or that the tap out wasn't quite so quick without any struggle. Fully recognize that I'm picking nits here, but a finish can -- strong or weak -- can really take a match up or down.

 

***1/2

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  • 4 weeks later...

This was for the WCW World Heavyweight title after Bret Hart had been stripped of the belt, and with Arn Anderson as special guest referee. The two of them lock up and Sid easily backs Benoit into the corner. Benoit with a go behind, but a swift elbow shrugs him off. A big clothesline from Sid sends Benoit over the top rope to the floor, and the locker room has emptied and made their way out of the curtain to get a better view of this. Press slam from Sid where he drops Benoit chest first to the canvas, followed by a front release suplex and he’s just too strong for Benoit at this point. Benoit ducks a clothesline and dropkicks Sid in the knee as he tries to bring the big man down to size and remove one of his wheels. He pull Sid to the outside, traps his leg between the ring steps and the ring post, and dropkicks the steps as he focuses his attention on that leg. Figure Four, but Sid is able to turn over and reverse the pressure, resulting in Benoit having to grab the ropes. Multiple kicks to Sid’s leg as he continues to try and wear him down, and a dragon screw leg whip for two. Benoit lays in those knife edge chops and gets the big man up for a snap suplex. Sid starts to fire back as they trade punches, but Benoit just kicks that leg out from under him. Indian deathlock/reverse chinlock combination. Benoit with a series of punches, but they have no effect and Sid responds with an open handed slap across the face. Same as before though, every time it looks like he might be getting back into this, Benoit takes out that leg. German suplex, he holds on to go for a second, but Sid with a back elbow puts a stop to that. He reverses an Irish whip and a powerslam for a near fall. Leglock/kneebar and Sid is able to reach the ropes. Release German, diving headbutt, Benoit makes the cover but Sid kicks out with authority on two. Sid with a chokeslam, however Benoit’s foot was under the bottom rope and stops the count. He signals for another one, Benoit counters into the crossface and Sid taps (all too quickly while the camera makes sure to get a shot of Sid’s leg under the ropes). Benoit celebrates with the belt as the onlooking wrestlers give him a round of applause.

 

I usually couldn’t care less for Michael Buffer, but from the moment he introduced Arn Anderson this felt like something special. The whole presentation, with Arn’s last minute instructions, gave this the feel of a real athletic contest, two gladiators going to war to find out who the better man is. If that wasn’t enough, we then get the lockeroom emptying to watch this up close and first hand. A very simple story of Sid being too big, too strong and too powerful at first, so Benoit has to turn his attention and focus all his efforts on one of his limbs to ‘bring him down to size’. Everytime it looked like he might be getting back into the match, boom, Benoit would cut him off again. Give Sid plenty of credit here, the guy sold that leg from the moment Benoit first attacked it and went up for a snap suplex, two German suplexes and took Benoit’s chops. If WCW were worried that Benoit was going to quit, everyone did all they could with their effort and presentation of this to try and convince him otherwise. Talking again about presentation, Bobby Heenan is pretty bad on commentary here. I have no complaints whatsoever with Mike Tenay or Tony Schiavone, but Heenan was cringeworthy. The only other complaint is that I wish Sid would have fought the crossface more and not tapped immediately. He fought the Figure Four, the Indian deathlock, the leglock/kneebar, he should’ve fought this for twenty to thirty seconds at least before tapping out. Still, this was a tremendous match.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

This was pretty damn good and I wish we could have gotten this Sid more often as I don't credit his offense looking better than usual just to the way Benoit sold & bumped, it looked like he was laying it in more than usual. This had an interesting dynamic where it was almost like Sid who started the match as the big monster bully ended up becoming the sympathetic underdog through the way Benoit kept cutting him off and Sid's great selling. I was kind of surprised how much Benoit put over the win in his reaction after the match and the promo backstage considering he knew he was going to be leaving anyway.

 

It's also really funny to me that the last words Benoit ever said on a WCW broadcast were "Well from the little turd to the big turd, best of luck."

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

A fantastic match that is a real feather in Benoit's cap. For the first time in years, WCW captures that big fight feel and it delivers a great main event. Benoit is fantastic here, bumping huge at the beginning, including a nutty, face-first bump into the mat from a press slam and then starts on offense. He keeps all of the leg work interesting, mixing the violent - the dropkick into the stairs with the intricate - taking Sid down with an awesome twisting tackle into the leg lock and it all leads to some good work from Sid as, what little offense he does have, looks pretty good. The chokeslam is helped by Benoit bumping huge but the comebacks are timed excellently. Benoit wins with the crossface; I'd have liked to see a bit more of a struggle from Sid but it did get over the crossface big, though I'm not sure the crowd expected it to end that early. Regardless, just a total superstar performance from Benoit and he would take that kind of work over to the WWF about 3 weeks later.

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  • 3 weeks later...

This was pretty boring. Was surprised to see Benoit dominate Sid, didn't have much intensity to the work over though I liked the drop kicks into the stairs and his chops were good as usual. I liked Sid allowing himself to be lifted up by a fan yelling for him to kick Benoit's ass, didn't like him blowing off 10 minutes of a work over to nonchalantly slap Benoit as soon as the crowd started chanting his name. Terrible finish, made even worse by Arn correctly calling the ropes right before. The choke slam was the only good thing here.

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  • 3 weeks later...

This is the first time I had seen this since sometime in 2000 when I rented the vhs tape. At the time I was so stoked to see Benoit get a title shot, and they really captured something here with the atmosphere and gravity this match had. This felt like a huge deal, probably the biggest title match since Goldberg bs Hogan for me. Anyway, I actually didnt like the match st all when I first watched it, but I really enjoyed it this time around. I didnt remember much about it, but I was surprised to see the structure here, with Benoit working on top most of the match. It really puts over the idea of him being the rabid wolverine. Sids facials, Hulk ups, and comebacks were amazing here, and the crowd was right with him. I loved it because he would start to make a comeback and get some energy, he would still sell his leg, making it feel like a burst of adrenaline rather than straight no-selling. Wonky finish but Ill take what I can get. Well see going through 2000-2001 but this is the best match I can remember from late wcw.

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  • 2 months later...

Benoit put together a great performance here, bumping like it was no ones business. The release suplex was great and then he did a good job working Sid's knee. The locker room coming out to witness the match is always a nice touch esspecially for this big moment. It is amazing WCW let him walk right after that.

 

****

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  • 1 month later...

Wow, I'm shocked this match gets so much love. I just don't see it.

 

To me, there's just way more wrong about this match than right. Every move Sid delivers, especially at the start, is basically just Benoit walking right into it. Check out that press slam early on - Benoit looks like he's hoisting himself up (it isn't even prefaced with something as simple as a boot by Sid or a chop or anything, its just Benoit practically saying "Pick me up" and positioning himself for the move).

 

Benoit cutting Sid down is great strategy and I like how Benoit is even willing to essentially "break the rules" by using the steps to his advantage - but such a dramatic, heelish move as his first strike? Its too heelish for me, especially as Benoit doesn't really do anything that dastardly for the rest of the much. Back in the ring they go and Benoit applies a bunch of submissions and hits his trademark german suplexes and, sadly, he (and WCW) miss a huge opportunity as Benoit continuing to cut corners or if he had gotten into it with Arn Anderson a little bit (instead, Arn's invisible during the actual match) would've given the fans what they were clamoring for. The internet may have wanted to see Benoit get his big win here, but the Cincinnati crowd is clearly in Sid's corner.

 

Sid's chokeslam looks great and Benoit doesn't half-ass at it any point - but that doesn't make up for the finish, which comes out of the nowhere in the worst way. Benoit applies the Crossface (which, as others have pointed out, doesn't really sync up with all the legwork he was doing) and Sid immediately taps, which makes him look like a total wuss, especially as Tony and Bobby had been hyping that, as his match with Goldberg proved a few months earlier, Sid "will never quit." Whoops.

 

I don't see how this can be considered a "must see" match (which is what 4-stars means to me). I'm not even sure how this could be considered anything other than average at best.

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  • 2 months later...

I haven't revisited most 2000 WCW, which obviously has a reputation, so I was very surprised at the total package here. From the beginning, they did a great job of making this match seem super important, from the introductions to the commentary to the locker room watching. Benoit stalked and picked apart Sid in a really interesting way. No BS or anything, just a really good match.

 

****

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  • GSR changed the title to [2000-01-16-WCW-Souled Out] Chris Benoit vs Sid

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