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In each edition of Gimmick Some Lovin', we take a look at one iteration of a gimmick match available on the WWE Network. Some are iconic for their success, others for the extent to which they flopped, and some just... happened.
We defined a "gimmick match" as, in any way, adding a rule/stipulation to or removing a rule from a match, changing the physical environment of a match, changing the conditions which define a "win", or in any way moving past the simple requirement of two men/women/teams whose contest must end via a single pinfall, submission, count out, or disqualification.
Last week, we took a look at a time when a triple threat match didn't get the time and attention it needed to flourish, so today, we look at a time when a triple threat match became the best match on the card (and, quite possibly, one of the greatest matches of the aughts, had certain events not transpired later that decade).
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Today's match is the main event of Wrestlemania XX, the No Disqualification Triple Threat Match pitting defending World Heavyweight Champion Triple H against perennial foe Shawn Michaels and Royal Rumble winner Chris Benoit.
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Let's get this out of the way
Though this is the second consecutive Gimmick Some Lovin' feature to focus on a Chris Benoit match, the Wrestlemania 2000 wasn't focused as much on Benoit as much as it was focused on...well...nothing, really. Considering that the story leading into this match, and (spoiler for folks who have not seen this match yet) its outcome focus very heavily on the Crippler, there are some things we need to wrestle with before tackling this main event contest.
There are two ways to think about Chris Benoit: the art and the artist. In an era of #MeToo, the question of separating the art from the artist has never been more hotly debated as more and more famous artists of all media are called to answer for various allegations.
This writer has yet to come down firmly on a side; as a peek behind the curtain, these early slides are typically completed long before the match and ratings slides, so these feelings might need to remain unresolved until the final slide.
Benoit's crimes are undoubtedly awful, a horrifying end to a life and career which seemed to be so impressive. The story was troubling when it happened because of the emotional attachment I had to Chris Benoit during his prolific career between the ropes; marriage and fatherhood have only made those events even more incomprehensible to me.
Today's feature won't delve any further into Benoit's death, the deaths that preceded it; knowing now how much accumulated brain damage played a role in his mental state that weekend, however, might affect some enjoyment of what happens during the match.
Also, because of the heaviness of the subject at hand, expect far fewer shoddy attempts at humour today; we'll try to be funny again with our next Wrestlemania feature.
The Build
This main event blends two ongoing storylines in a way that seemed frustrating at the time but worked out once the match actually happened.
The Game was the reigning World Heavyweight Champion, having regained the Big Gold Belt from Bill Goldberg in the fall of 2003. His first challenger was a familiar foe in The Heartbreak Kid, and the pair battled to a draw on the December 29 edition of Monday Night RAW.
General Manager Eric Bischoff declared that the issue would be settled at the Royal Rumble in a Last Man Standing Match, an epic bloodbath featuring the Rocky II ending of HBK and HHH simultaneously knocking each other out with chair shots.
Benoit, meanwhile, was the property of Smackdown heading into that year's January extravaganza; Benoit had been punished by Smackdown General Manager Paul Heyman with a series of handicap matches in order to retain his entry into the Rumble match, a punishment which continued with a number one entry for the Canadian Crippler.
Benoit would go on to become the Royal Rumble's then-longest competitor, outlasting 29 other men (literally) to last eliminate The Big Show and earn a non-specific world title match; the ambiguity of that title shot would clarify the following evening on RAW as Benoit officially jumped ship to challenge Helmsley for his World Heavyweight Championship on the Red Brand.
During the contract signing for that match, Michaels would interfere, attacking The Crippler and putting his own name in place of Benoit's on the match contract. Stone Cold Steve Austin, serving as the "Sheriff" for RAW, would declare that Benoit had a valid claim to the title, but so did Michaels (due to the blood feud with The Game and the inconclusivity of their previous two championship outings).
Benoit and Michaels wrestled each other to determine which man would challenge for the title at Madison Square Garden on March 14 but, unable to remain on the sidelines, Helmsley would interfere in the match; as punishment, the "Sheriff" decreed that since neither man lost the match, Helmsley would have to defend his title against both men.
The Rules
This match would be contested under traditional Triple Threat Rules: all three men would be legal at all times, and the match would end with a single pinfall or submission inside the ring. Owing to the fact that there were three men involved, disqualifications and countouts would not apply.
The Match
Shawn is in his classic 1995/1996 red tights, and Benoit enters with very little pageantry (save Howard Finkel's absolute delight in saying "Ben-WAAAHHHH"); Helmsley was a few years away from his multimillion-dollar Wrestlemania entrance productions, so it's a quick walk down the MSG ramp for The Game and his luscious 2004 locks.
It's unfathomable, in the modern stadium spectacle era, that the entrances for a main event, three entrances, no less, would take less than four minutes from the end of the pump-up video to all performers being in the ring.
New York City is firmly behind Chris Benoit as the match begins, and the Crippler and the Heartbreak Kid jockey for position over who gets to demolish Triple H first; that turns into a full-scale tussle, and Killer Kowalski's most famous student is knocked out of the ring while the Canadian and the Texan engage in a technical exhibition of suplexes and reversals.
A Helmsley-Michaels in-ring sequence leads to HHH and Benoit clashing at ringside, broken up by a spectacular Michaels moonsault from the top rope to the floor; from the neck down, Michaels is 27 years old in this contest but looks 47 from the neck up.
Benoit takes control briefly with a savage series of snap suplexes and "WOOOOO"-worthy chest chops, before Helmsley sets up one of the first really cool spots of the match by hanging Benoit in the Tree of Woe and Irish Whipping HBK into the Wolverine for two; Michaels would send Hunter toward a still-inverted Benoit for a kick to the head, and the toothless Albertan would escape to deliver his rolling German suplexes before Mr Wrestlemania slid in to break up a flying headbutt attempt.
Michaels would duck out for an extended Helmsley-Benoit sequence, returning to break up a Crippler Crossface attempt, then try to apply the trifecta of Deutschesuplexen to Benoit; Benoit would reverse for three of his own, then ascend to the top turnbuckle to nail the headbutt for a pair of two counts. The crowd is eating this up, and for good reason.
The former founders of D-Generation X squared off next, and Michaels would hit his signature flying elbow, followed by a Sweet Chin Music for a near fall broken up by Benoit; MSG applauds politely for the pin attempt, but it's clear that Benoit is one hundred percent their guy.
Michaels fights off a Benoit Sharpshooter attempt in the center of the ring, so Benoit adjusts, and a signature Shawn Michaels spot (debuted in October of 1997 against The Undertaker in the original Hell in a Cell contest) ensues: Benoit slingshots Michaels to the ringpost and Michaels, on his way up off the mat, employs a gruesome (and productive) bladejob.
He would then do what Mick Foley would refer to as the "Cactus Jack watusi" to show off his crimson mask to the New York crowd before Benoit would apply the Crippler Crossface; in yet another amazing visual from this contest, Michaels would try desperately to tap out, but Helmsley holds on to The Sexy Boy's wrist, allowing it to spasm in midair without ending the contest.
The fight would spill to the announce tables, and another German suplex to Helmsley is countered with a Pedigree attempt, which is countered to a vertical suplex setup; with the aid of a bloodied Michaels, Benoit sails in a double suplex through one of the foreign language tables while the Garden crowd proclaims the presence of sanctified fecal matter.
Looking like Sissy Spacek at the end of Carrie, Michaels goads Helmsley into the ring, then trashes The Game all over ringside; the future COO uses a headshot to the ring steps to get some colour of his own before taking over with a Pedigree in the ring. Dribbling blood all over his chest, The Game crawls for a cover, which gets roughly a 2.9999999-count before Benoit emerges from offscreen to a massive pop.
Michaels rolls out of the ring, and another chopfest ensues; Benoit counters the Pedigree into a Sharpshooter, and New York reacts like Bret Hart himself has walked back into the WWE (which, in 2004, was about as likely as 2018 WWE advertising this match). Michaels breaks up the hold with a superkick for two, then goes for the full-stomp-setup Sweet Chin Music, but gets backdropped to ringside.
Helmsley uses the distraction to set up a Pedigree, but Benoit grapevines into a Crossface as The Garden nearly needs to buy a new roof from the massive pop nearly bursting their existing one. Helmsley goes for the ropes, but Benoit rolls back to the centre as New York doubles down on their pop, and Benoit wrenches further back to force a bloodied and beaten Hunter Hearst Helmsley to tap out as MSG, and Jim Ross, scream themselves hoarse.
Eddie Guerrero comes down to celebrate with his longtime travelling buddy and best friend, and now co-carrier of the WWE banner, as confetti falls and this writer reaches for a handkerchief.
My Rating
Chris Benoit is a murderer.
That needs to be established before any further discussion of this match occurs. Covering this match is not an attempt to "save" his legacy or negate anything that happened in his Georgia home; regardless of what health and/or lifestyle factors may have led to the killings (and whether Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or other concussion-and-drug-related brain degeneration played a role in that), Benoit ended his own life in an awful sequence of events.
Knowing all of that, I would be lying if I said that I didn't watch this match with my heart in my throat. Nothing here is a throwaway, and fourteen years after the fact, the drama of the closing sequence is still gripping.
WWE reportedly, at the time, wanted Benoit as "the guy" but did not have the faith that a one-on-one match with Benoit capturing The Big One would move pay-per-view numbers, thus the triple threat.
It's impossible to say in retrospect whether a singles match would have turned out better than this, but it's also impossible not to consider this a main event for the ages (considered in the context of its own time, of course).
There's a cognitive dissonance that comes with loving this match with the full knowledge of what the following handful of years would bring; the Eddie Guerrero reunion after the bell is heart-rending on a number of levels, and the thrill of Benoit finally reaching the pinnacle is, thanks to the pace and storytelling of the contest (and that Garden crowd), a massive shot of adrenaline and pure markdom.
Then, again, we realize where Benoit's path leads.
I'm torn on a rating for the match because praising its virtues (and there are lots of them) seems to ignore the non-kayfabe drama that unspools afterwards. Harping on that, however, ignores the massive sacrifices and theatrics Helmsley and Michaels bring to the match to help boost Benoit into the stratosphere: Benoit is obviously the steak of this match, but his two opponents are the sizzle.
While it's still onscreen, my reaction is to rate it high, at least 9/10; the minute Eddie, Benoit, and the confetti disappear, though, it's hard to justify keeping that rating.
We'll leave this one with that 9/10 but add an asterisk that this is a recommendation to watch 30 minutes of a pro wrestling story told masterfully by three very flawed men, but not an endorsement of those men themselves (though nowhere near Benoit's crimes, HBK and HHH have earned their fair share of scorn throughout their careers). At the very least, if you've become a fan in the era after Benoit made CNN, look to this match to understand why longtime fans are so conflicted about his place in wrestling history.
Meltzer Says
Meltzer (in his 2004 review of the card) gives this one ****3/4; Dave admitted on a recent Talk is Jericho that he has been unable to re-watch a Benoit match in the past decade, so it remains nearly perfect in his archives.
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