10 Great WWE Raw Matches That Came From Out Of Nowhere

2004 wasn't the best year for Monday Night Raw (Eugene, the first Diva Search, Jonathan Coachman as a wrestler...) but it durn churn out some truly incredible wrestling matches from time to time. One of the best things about the year, particularly the summer, was the mix-and-match Evolution six-man tag.

At the time of this match, Orton had been named number one contender to Benoit's World Heavyweight Championship. Edge, Batista and Jericho were fueding over the Intercontinental Title and Ric Flair was there because he's Ric f*ckin' Flair, okay?

In fact, while everyone pulled their weight in this twenty-five-minute (!) encounter, the Nature Boy pretty much stole the show. Flair had his working boots on this night and controlled the pace of the match, his exchanges with the Rabid Wolverine the true highlights.

What was so great about this one, and what distinguished it from other similar great Evolution six/eight-man tags of the era, was that this one was so clearly heavily improvised. You can tell watching it that the six have a basic structure but that they are winging everything else.

Everyone gets a chance to shine here and, what's more, the crowd were glued to it throughout, exploding when Benoit hit the rolling German suplexes on The Legend Killer in the closing stretch. But it would be Orton who had the last left, catching his foe with an RKO as Benoit had Flair trapped in a Sharpshooter.

A red-hot finish to a phenomenal TV match and a great way to build to the upcoming pay-per-view. Really, what more could you want?