20 Best Matches Of Brock Lesnar's Career

Following Brock Lesnar’s epic rivalry with Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit emerged as the next challenger for the WWE Champion. During the 2003 Survivor Series, The Rabid Wolverine made The Next Big Thing tap out, earning himself a WWE Championship match on the 4 December edition of SmackDown.

After defeating John Cena earlier in the night, the deck was stacked against Chris Benoit as he attempted to win his first WWE Championship. Depite that, the Rabid Wolverine and the WWE Champion had a stellar match on free television. Even with one bout under his belt, Benoit was able to survive the early onslaught of the champion, including being overhead pressed onto the announce table.

In what would become a staple of many of Brock Lesnar’s title matches, the referee was knocked out as the WWE Champion was attempting to escape the Crossface submission by Benoit. Since there was no referee, Benoit did not win despite Brock tapping out in the middle of the ring. The Next Big Thing would hit a gnarly looking F-5 and bend a steel chair around the knee of Benoit. The Beast would then debut his new submission, The Brock Lock forcing Chris Benoit to pass out from the pain.

While the screwy finish will always take away from the quality of a match, Brock Lesnar and Chris Benoit still put on an instant classic on SmackDown.