10 Best Brock Lesnar WWE SmackDown Moments

Chris Benoit was the MVP of the December 4th, 2003 episode of Smackdown. First, The Rabid Wolverine carried John Cena for about twelve minutes, just to get to the chance to face Brock Lesnar for the WWE Title. Then he helped The Beast to one of his very best TV matches, a 20-minute affair in which Benoit took it to his much larger opponent.

There was a bit of a backstory to this one, too, as Benoit had forced captain Brock to tap out at the Survivor Series just a few weeks prior. The Next Big Thing had been dogged by chants of 'you tapped out!' so this was his chance to get a little retribution, with the added bonus that Benoit had already expended some energy against the Doctor of Thuganomics.

Brock tried his best to avoid the Crossface throughout the match and dished out several mean-looking suplexes and some vicious blows to Benoit's body. The Crippler retaliated, rocking Brock with some suplexes of his own and a big diving headbutt. Benoit was on a roll, gathering some serious momentum and the crowd were well on his side. He even had enough in him to kick out of an F5, something hardly anyone does, or did.

Benoit managed to get Brock tapping again, but the ref was down. In the end, though, a spent Benoit was trapped in Brock's newfangled submission, the Stretch Muffle AKA the Brock Lock, and passed out. Another decisive victory for superheel Lesnar, but at least Benoit got the visual win, awarding him some credibility as he marched towards the Royal Rumble and, eventually, a world title of his own.