10 Great WWE Raw Matches That Came From Out Of Nowhere

Who doesn't love a good tournament? I stress the word 'good' there, because WWE tournaments can be pretty inconsistent at the best of times. You need only look at something like the 2000 King of the Ring for evidence of that.

The 2005 'Gold Rush' tournament to determine the number one contender for Batista's World Heavyweight Title, was one of the better ones, thank to top-tier participants like Christian, Chris Jericho, Triple H, Edge, Chris Benoit, Shawn Michaels and Shelton Benjamin.

It was the latter two who stole the entire tournament, however, with a phenomenal first round match on the May 2nd, 2005 episode of Raw. It was the first singles meeting between the then-Intercontinental Champion and The Showstopper, and the two demonstrated great chemistry from the off.

2005 was a real coming out party for Benjamin, as he really delivered some excellent performances (such as his show-stealing effort in the inaugural Money in the Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania 21). This fifteen minute back-and-forth tussle with HBK proved he could hang with one of the best ever in a high pressure situation.

The pace was constant as both guys traded the advantage in some nice wrestling sequences in the early going, before both men started busting out the big moves and counters. Benjamin looked to have the match won after hitting a perfectly timed Dragon Whip kick but Michaels rallied with a big elbow and both men registered yet more heart stopping nearfalls.

In the end, it took something truly special for the WWE Hall of Famer to best the Gold Standard: Michaels caught Benjamin flush in the jaw with Sweet Chin Music, as Benjamin springboarded and flew towards him from the other side of the ring.