(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: Brock Lesnar vs. Chris Benoit – WWE SmackDown 2003

What we’ve got here is something quite interesting: a match involving one of the most accomplished and decorated wrestlers in recent memory who, for better or worse, has been all but scrubbed from WWE history…and Chris Benoit.

All kidding aside, SmackDown was an interesting place in 2002 and 2003. Under Paul Heyman’s initial guidance the blue brand became “the wrestling show” that was more worth watching than the entertainment-heavy RAW. It was also special because, around this time, WWE had conditioned its audience not to expect anything special on live shows or TV shows and to only expect the best moments and matches on PPVs. But SmackDown was largely an exception to this; even after Heyman was ousted from his position as head of the show’s creative department there were still better-than-average matches on that show more often than on RAW. As such, for your average fan who couldn’t always fork up top dollar for “premium” events SmackDown circa 2002-2003 provided more value for money. So with today’s WWE landscape being dominated by exorbitant prices for even B-level shows and a hit-or-miss chance for those shows to actually have anything worth the price of entry, let’s look back at a time when the average fan for more out of what they paid for.

The Story

A few weeks earlier at Survivor Series 2003 Lesnar and Benoit found themselves on opposite teams in a traditional five-on-five elimination tag match. Benoit’s side won that match and what was particularly notable about this was that Benoit made Lesnar tap out to his Crippler Crossface submission hold. Now, Lesnar tapping out wasn’t a new development since he had tapped out to Kurt Angle already at least once before. But tapping to Benoit was considered a far more serious embarrassment, to the point that, earlier in the night, Lesnar vowed to tap Benoit out in this match.

That being said there was one problem: at the time that didn’t have an established submission finisher. This was before he entered MMA and so LONG before his kimura was even a thing. During his first run Lesnar only had the F-5 as an established finisher and nothing else. So even though Lesnar was dominant and rarely showed vulnerability, with this match he found himself in an unfamiliar setting. Would Benoit tap him out twice in quick succession, or would Lesnar find a new way out of this exceptional challenge?

The Match

This took place on December 4, 2003. It was rated ****1/4 out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

Before the match starts there’s a backstage vignette involving around a dozen or so undercarders. Nunzio of the F.B.I. is running a betting pool and is taking bets on who will win between Lesnar and Benoit, with some guys betting thousands of dollars on one of them. Nunzio states that the odds are 3-2 in Lesnar’s favor but then breaks down how both men have pros and cons. Then out of nowhere comes A-Train, who was on Lesnar’s team at Survivor Series, who places a $10,000 bet…on Benoit. See, THIS is how to make a basic story with short build bigger and more intriguing. And this whole segment probably didn’t even take all that much time of effort to put together in the first place.

Lesnar comes out first and then Benoit. Lesnar rushes Benoit before his entrance is over and hits him with shoulder thrusts in a corner. Lesnar follows with a vertical suplex and some stomping as a “you tapped out” chant begins among the audience. Lesnar sends Benoit into a corner but he blocks a charge. Benoit hits three arm drags and the clotheslines Lesnar to the floor. They brawl ringside until Benoit sends Lesnar wrist-first into a ringpost and then goes for the Crossface in the ring. Benoit pursues Lesnar around the ring until Lesnar lands a sudden flapjack and drops Benoit throat-first on the top rope.

Lesnar lands a delayed elevated cradle fisherman suplex for two and then another exchange ensues. Lesnar throws Benoit out of the ring, presses him overhead, and drops him on the edge of a ringside commentary table. Back in the ring Lesnar lands another suplex and locks in what looks like a rear naked choke. A “Benoit” chant begins which fires Benoit up. He ducks a clothesline but runs into a tilt-a-whirl front slam for another two-count.

We come back from commercial with Benoit in another rear naked choke. Benoit fights out of this one too but Lesnar ducks and sends Benoit flying back out of the ring. Lesnar sends him into the ringsteps but soon afterwards Benoit recovers and pulls Lesnar out and does the same to him. We get a cat-and-mouse chase and, try as he might, Lesnar can’t escape Benoit. Benoit sends him into a corner but Lesnar elbows out and lands a big German suplex. We almost get a double count-out but both guys make it up at nine. Benoit wins a strike battle, gets reversed and sent into a corner, and dodges a charge causing Lesnar to hit the ringpost shoulder-first. Benoit follows with triple Germans a running shoulderblock, and a successful diving head-butt. One, two, Lesnar kicks out. Double clothesline reversal. Benoit pulls Lesnar down with an armbar attempting to lock in the Crossface. Lesnar escapes but Benoit tries again. Lesnar counters with a pendulum backbreaker but in his swing he hits the referee. The ref goes down as Benoit locks in the Crippler Crossface. Lesnar taps but the ref doesn’t see it. Benoit goes to wake him up but then walks into an F-5. Lesnar covers Benoit…but only gets two.

A massive “you tapped out” chant breaks out so Lesnar grabs a chair. With the referee still recovering Lesnar whacks Benoit’s knee with the chair and then throws away the evidence. Then he lifts Benoit’s weakened leg in a sort of half crab but wraps it over his ginormous shoulders. It’s the Brock Lock. Lesnar sits down on Benoit while stretching that leg. Michael Cole aptly says that Lesnar’s “bending Benoit like a pretzel”. Benoit’s screaming gradually quietens and his hand goes limp. The referee calls for the bell. Lesnar has won via referee stoppage/knock-out.

Winner and STILL WWE Champion after 18:21: Brock Lesnar

Post-match Lesnar mocks Benoit by locking him in his own crossface and grabs his arm to make a tapping gesture. OK, sure, Lesnar didn’t technically keep his promise to make Benoit tap out but ask anyone and they’ll probably say that being made to pass out is a much more impactful outcome.

You can watch the full match here.

Review

This was a great match, especially for a TV match given away for free and with a commercial thrown in the middle. It was fast-paced and competitive. It had a nice little story of speed versus power. Benoit was clearly leading the match but Lesnar didn’t look out of place, green, or exposed in any way. For a guy who was only two years into his main roster run he looked as comfortable and confident as someone with five times the experience. Though it was far from the best that either wrestler was capable of it was more exciting than it had any right to be. In the span of just over twenty minutes these guys and the production machine behind them managed to put together a PPV-quality performance.

At the same time Benoit did more than enough to push this story forward. He tried outgunning Lesnar, hitting just as hard with suplexes, and brawling, even though that last one wasn’t really his forte. At first it seemed unlikely that Benoit stood a chance of winning but with each turnaround he inched ever closer. He managed to balance out-foxing Lesnar using his veteran experience with being an undersized underdog who made significant inroads each time he landed anything. Then once he hit his triple Germans and the diving head-butt it looked like the impossible might happen.

But then came the fuck finish and, well, while it was a bit more creative than the typical ref bump spot it was still a ref bump, which is the epitome of lazy creative ideas. I get it: they had to protect Benoit in losing and Lesnar tapping without a referee to “see it” put Benoit over without having him actually win. At the same time this finish has this unshakeable sense of overt bullshit that has been around since at least SummerSlam 2001 when Kurt Angle and Stone Cold Steve Austin had an amazing match that was ruined by the dumbest finish in the world via conveyor belt of referees getting attacked. Granted, applying logic to wrestling isn’t always an appropriate since this is an emotion-driven medium. And yet it’s insulting to the viewer when referees melt at the slightest touch, especially when there’s been officials like Earl Hebner that’ve held their own against wrestlers and actually have some stones. So when this ref went down, why wasn’t another one brought out right away to replace the fallen one since that precedent had been established years earlier?

Final Rating: ****

Though this is a much-better-than-average match by 2000s WWE TV standards it could’ve been so much better with a slightly different finish. Point blank there was no need for the ref bump aside from creating an artificial spike in drama that didn’t even have a real payoff since the same ref called for the decision to begin with. Given the story they were telling it would’ve been a much better match if they did away with that plotline and focused solely on the “Lesnar needs a submission finish” story that drew people in from the start.

That aside, there’s still enough story, action, and excitement in this twenty-two-minute segment to satisfy pretty much any viewer. It doesn’t hit the audience over the head with over-the-top storytelling and at no point does anyone chew the scenery or get too hammy with promos or gimmicks. It was a serious match in a serious setting that was put over from the start by both a pre-match hype video and a small backstage vignette involving other wrestlers giving their “professional opinions” on who would win. It’s the small things that matter and, aside from a single annoying and overused wrestling trope, there’s nothing but good shit here.

Thanks for reading.