10 Great Matches From WWE Vengeance PPVs

Smackdown resurrected the United States Championship in the summer of 2003 and held a tournament to determine the new champion. The tournament final was to take place at Vengeance, the first Smackdown-exclusive pay-per-view of the old brand split era. Luckily for WWE/Smackdown fans, that match was going to be Eddie Guerrero versus Chris Benoit, guaranteeing quality.

Latino Heat and the Rabid Wolverine were certainly no strangers to one another, having wrestled countless times in Japan, WCW and the WWF. I'm not particularly sure if I've ever seen them have a 'bad' match against one another, but they seemed extra motivated during this one.

The two men started off with some tight technical wrestling in the early going. The execution of everything they did was so crisp, whether it was hammerlocks, shoulder blocks or arm drags it was all on-point. Eventually, Benoit got the advantage and nailed Guerrero with a tope and worked over Eddie until he came back with a second-rope frankensteiner.

The Crippler soon battled back himself though, unleashing a little-seen back superplex and a trio of Germans. Eddie escaped a Crossface attempt and gave Benoit three suplexes of his own in the form of the triple verticals, capping it off with a gnarly top rope superplex. Eddie missed a Frog Splash but Benoit's sickening powerbomb couldn't get the job done.

The two men were wrestling a good, solid and clean bout when the ref was bumped. Eddie, being Eddie, went and got the US Title belt but his belt shot only registered a two. After more screwiness and cheeky Eddie antics, Benoit's sometimes tag partner Rhyno ran in and shockingly nailed the Canadian with a Gore, leaving him easy pickings for Guerrero, who nailed the Frog Splash and claimed the title.

This was a very, very good and competitive match and a great way to kick off a pay-per-view. Watch it and learn.