[jonoaries]

Originally Posted by jblvdx

Better worker, Bret or Benoit?

Tough, I'll go with Benoit. Benoit brought that legitimate tough guy, that balls to the wall, leave it all in the ring style. It was a bit more exciting and fan friendly than Bret's. I think Bret is one of the GOAT's in ring too, so this is a high compliment.


Bret style sometimes looked more like a chess match. Specifically the Iron Man match w/ HBK, the No DQ match w/ Diesel at Survivor Series, his matches with Austin at Survivor Series & Wrestlemania.


Benoit also wrestled a more aggressive, fast paced style, with a lot of move variations (snap & german suplexes) and still brought in the daredevil stuff. Its a bit more fan friendly than the traditional, methodical style of Bret.

[The Lady Killer]

Originally Posted by KingCal

You mean Angle/Benoit? They had a 30 minute Ultimate Submission match (aka iron man with submission only) and a 3 stages of hell style 2/3 falls match . And if you meant Lesnar/Angle, just Iron Man.

Yeah, fuck me. I meant Angle/Lesnar.

[Tim Legend]

Its Beniot... As I've aged ive found that Bret harts work upon rewatching more often than not and with a handful of exceptions doesn't usually hold up real well and ends up boring the hell out of me. This coming from one of the biggest Hart marks back in the day. His offense is was always kinda lame, it took certain guys to get a high level of intensity out of him. Beniot brought that shit every time and his matches on the whole are more enjoyable...

[zep81]

Speaking of Benoit, his best matches? I really like some of his Japan stuff.

[Choke2Death]

Originally Posted by zep81

Speaking of Benoit, his best matches? I really like some of his Japan stuff.

I think it's WAY too many to list. I'll just go with his WWE matches and try to name the absolute best only.

vs The Rock (Fully Loaded 00 + every other match)
vs Chris Jericho (SummerSlam 00, Royal Rumble 01)
vs Kurt Angle (Wrestlemania 17, Backlash 01, Royal Rumble 03)
w/ Jericho vs 2 Man Power Trip (Raw)
vs Stone Cold (Smackdown)
vs RVD (SummerSlam 02)
w/ Angle vs Edge & Mysterio (No Mercy 02)
vs Eddie Guerrero (Vengeance 03)
vs Brock Lesnar (Smackdown)
vs HBK (Raw x2)
vs HHH vs HBK (Wrestlemania 20, Backlash 04)
vs HHH (Ironman on Raw and Pick Your Poison 05)
vs Kane (Bad Blood 04)
vs Randy Orton (SummerSlam 04, Smackdown 06)
MITB I (WM21)
vs Regal (Velocity & No Mercy 06)
vs Edge (Raw after WM, Backlash 05 & Smackdown 07)
vs Finlay (Judgment Day 06)

I'm really bitter that he and Undertaker never worked a real program together.

Also opinions on Benoit's match with Sting on Nitro 99? I watched it the other day and it was pretty good.

[Moustache]

Originally Posted by Choke2Death

And fuck, I NEED to check out one or more of these Flair/Steamboat matches. I keep hearing about them all the time but am yet to watch a single one.

Seriously, take 2 hours today and watch the '89 series they had in order. All 5-star matches and most likely the best feud ever WRT match quality.

[Yeah1993]

Benoit/Sting is really awesome. Benoit's WCW run is widely praised but there are still so many really good matches that people don't ever talk about.

[The Beast Incarnate]

I prefer Bret, but the margin isn't as big as some probably believe. Bret for some reason or another just DID IT for me , seemingly putting on some fantastic matches with guys that never should have had anything resembling ***+ (SEE Jean-Paul Lafitte & The Patriot). Part of the thing with Bret was that he was a REAL character in what was at the time (in 1995) a cartoon world of wrestling. I always believed that Bret's best era was his comeback at Survivor Series 96 until Surivor Series 1997 , where he was practically untouchable (even by GOD-like HBK).

This may seem like a whole different discussion, but I believe the only things that Shawn hold over Bret is his longevity, and while Shawn wrestled the greatest match of all time IMO at BB 97, Bret wrestled in the second greatest match ever at WM X vs his brother Owen. If I could just run down Bret's ****+ matches from that era ;

vs Austin SS 96 : ***** (Top 12 match ever)
vs SID IYH XII : *** 1/4
vs Taker vs Austin vs Vader IYH XIII : **** 1/2
vs Austin WM XIII : ***** (4th best WWF/WWE Match Ever)
vs Austin IYH XIV : (Yet To Be Seen)
Canadian Stampede Tag : **** 1/2
vs Taker SS 97 : ****
vs The Patriot IYH GZ : *** 3/4 (Probably the most impressive of all)
vs Taker ONO 97 : **** 1/2
w/Bulldog vs Vader/Patriot : (Yet To Be Seen)
vs Shawn SS 97 : ****

I'm going to have to see if this checks out as the greatest year for any individual performer in WWE history. Seriously, I'm willing to bet that this is it, I really need to put my hands in the dirt and research this shit up.

[Phil_Mc_90]

I prefer Benoit

Loved his move set and intensity. His snap supplex will always be one of my favourite moves and the cross face is probably my number 1 submission move.
I can understand the argument for Bret but i have never been a huge fan.

[jonoaries]

Best single brand PPV?
...
I'm thinking maybe No Mercy 2006 (Smackdown) or Vengeance 2005 (Raw) but of the two I prefer NM06. The fatal 4 way was very impressive and the Kennedy/Undertaker match was awesome as well. Incredible undercard matches like Matt Hardy/Gregory Helms (I loved their series by the way) and Chavo vs Rey (always a great match).

...
Vengeance had the epic Batista/H HIAC, Angle/HBK II and a very good IC title match between Carlito and Shelton Benjamin.

...
I loved the 2 brand system too, but it fell apart