Forgotten Gems: Part 3

[PsychoBlack]

For this installment i have decided to step away from the IYH era. I have fast forwarded to the Ruthless Aggression Era for a match that not many people seem to talk about despite the importance of it to a legends career.

The main event for SummerSlam 2004 was Chris Benoit vs Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship. They stayed at their own pace and had great psychology without sacrificing the big spots. The match was epic as you could expect nothing less out of these two and it even set up the reputation of the RKO being a quick kill move.


As great as this match was the best part of it was what came from it. The next night on Raw they had a rematch which Orton won before his stable mates turned against him.

Now this match had everything. Great in the ring, led to a storyline, clean finish, and the title changed hands. What was it missing for it to be remembered by the fans as a true classic?

 

[The Crazman]

Well there's an obvious reason why its not mentioned so much by the WWE. I think the reason the fans don't bring it up as often is that while it is a great match Benoit had so many better. His winning of the title at Wrestlemania 20 was definitely one of them, but other than that and possibly the rematch at Backlash the matches of his title run never really lived up to the standard of matches he'd set that far in his career.

It's also overshadowed by the storyline between Orton and Evolution. This match just seemed a way of putting the title back on HHH while splitting Orton from the group while Benoit was then forgotten from the title picture. The Summerslam match had no real story to it between the two competitors and didn't lead to a feud between them. These sort of one of matches never get remembered as much.

By the way this is a nice series. Its good to see a lot of matches that have been overshadowed talked about and given the respect they deserve.

 

[brainsuks1234]

Well part of the reason is because WWE dosn't bring up the match because of Benoits death. Another reason is the same as the person above me had said was it's just so that Triple H could go back on top while Randy Orton left evolution.