#9 Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels (RAW - May 3, 2004)
Chris Benoit started 2004 off in amazing fashion. He entered the Royal Rumble match at number 1 and eventually eliminated Big Show by himself to win the match. He followed that by defeating Triple H and Shawn Michaels two PPVs in a row in triple threat matches, making each Triple H tap out at WrestleMania and Michaels tap out at Backlash.
He ended up taking the back seat, after those matches, to the ongoing feud between Triple H and Shawn Michaels that his Rumble victory interrupted.
The beginning of the end for Benoit came, in a well-hyped match in Phoenix, Arizona. Titled “The Showdown in the Desert”, Benoit and Michaels had a great match to close that particular episode of Monday Night RAW. It ended when Triple H hit the Pedigree on HBK to screw him out of the title.
Triple H and Shawn Michaels would go on to main event the next RAW PPV against each other inside Hell in a Cell while Chris Benoit defended his title against… Kane. Benoit would go on to defeat Triple H one-on-one at the next RAW pay-per-view. Thanks to Eugene screwing up his interference on Triple H's behalf.
The months of January through May were pretty darn good, though, and the Benoit/Michaels match could have headlined any PPV event.
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