10 Best WWE Ruthless Aggression Era Matches

During the Attitude Era, WWE had reinvented itself to survive against an onslaught led by WCW thanks in part to superior wrestling and captivating on-screen presentations. However, Vince McMahon and company were so successful in their regeneration that, by 2001, they had surpassed the competition and were undoubtedly in a league of their own.

The years which followed - dubbed the 'Ruthless Aggression' Era - were strange to say the least. The federation was now a publicly traded company, the ‘Federation’ was now ‘Entertainment,’ and WWE was the only major company on the block. With this lack of competition, the product became stale and McMahon ended up giving a public pep talk on an episode of Monday Night Raw to inspire talent to fight against the complacency that had started to seep in.

While WWE definitely was in a period of ‘flux’ as McMahon confessed at the time, this was a period when some superstars responded to McMahon’s plea by reverting back to what they knew and loved, and placed the emphasis back on the in-ring performance. Some of the characters and feuds might have been a little lacklustre, but these matches were nothing short of barn burners.

In the ring, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit were incredibly similar. Their styles complimented each other and they always had amazing wrestling matches. From their exhaustive list, this outing was their finest. While Angle was at the front of the ever-hated stable, Team Angle, Benoit was on the warpath after recently returning from a broken neck.

With their initial rivalry stemming from who was the better technical wrestler, both men were paired together in the tournament to crown the inaugural WWE Tag Team Champions, and ended up winning and barely managing to push their feud to one side. At Royal Rumble 2003, the feud culminated in one exceptional battle of technical skill.

Back and forth suplexes, chops and a plethora of submission manoeuvres highlighted the expanse of each grappler’s repertoire. This is must watch purely for its ultra-competitive, ultra-stiff, and ultra-technical display.

The climax of this contest saw a victorious Angle returning to the back, while Benoit slowly stood in the centre of the canvas on which he had just co-created an unforgettable piece of art. While Benoit struggled to put weight on his left foot, thanks to the multiple times it had been twisted in Angle’s death grip, the fans gave a standing ovation in respect, awe and gratitude to both men.

This contest illustrated why the SmackDown brand was the wrestling brand in the early Ruthless Aggression Era and remains one of those matches which makes it hard to dispute Benoit’s legendary status inside the ring despite the atrocities he committed outside of it.