Was the case with Benoit winning the Royal Rumble at #1 and beating Triple H & Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 20, and again in a rematch at Backlash just an example of someone finally getting their dues after busting their ass for so many years? Or was there something else at hand?
The first of those.
Back in early 03, Angle needed a quick opponent because he was dropping the title to Brock at Mania, period and end of story. They had the match in Boston at the Rumble, and it's a masterpiece, easily one of the best matches I've ever seen. Benoit gets a standing ovation and everyone realizes it was a starmaking performance. Benoit was on Smackdown at this time.
Around this time, HHH was having a problem: he DOMINATED Raw and had practically no one to feud with. He had a feud with Booker where every logical idea and common sense point of view would have said Booker beats HHH for the title at Mania. That of course didn't happen. The idea here should be pretty clear: Benoit should move to Raw and tear the house down with HHH for four months or so.
But that isn't what they did, and the most common answer (and the one I believe to an extent) is that HHH intentionally kept him on Smackdown where most of the talent was. HHH was fighting guys like Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash while Benoit was feuding with Lesnar, Angle, and some rookie named Cena. Benoit even wound up fighting the FBI, as in the comedy Italian stable, for awhile.
So finally after Benoit kept having nothing but awesome match after awesome match, they realized there's nothing else they can do to keep Benoit out of the main event and that HHH is finally going to have to lose (of course making sure that it's never a one on one loss. We don't want this Benoit kid getting too much too soon. He FINALLY lost one on one to Benoit at Vengeance and even that was via a chair shot from Eugene and a rollup.)
So yeah, Benoit winning the title at Mania was supposed to be this big culmination and the rise of the new generation. And then HHH killed Benoit's push deader than Benoit is now by having one great match at Backlash, then having a Cell match with Shawn so that Benoit's title defense is forgotten, then having a rematch with Benoit, then Benoit drops the title at Summerslam. HHH of course had it back by September and held it for another 7 months, other than letting it be vacant for all of December so he could grab another quick title reign when he got it back after it was held up. On the Blue side, the new generation in the form of Eddie lost his title to a career midcarder in the form of Bradshaw who had the Reign of Doom.
Sorry for the long history lesson there. I'm
really not a fan of HHH during that 2-3 year window.
Do you prefer a larger arena like 60,000+ in attendance or a more smaller, intimate arena?
Depends on what it's for. For Mania, the show should be a spectacle. For Raw etc, small.
Who would you like to see push? (Not Cody or Ziggler)
Sheamus. The guy could be a BEAST if pushed right.