Wrestling Rewind: This Week In History (July 17 - July 23)
1. July 23rd, 2000: Chris Benoit Wins The WWF Championship
When the WWF rolled into Dallas for Fully Loaded 2000, the card was stacked from top to bottom; featuring a triple main event with three marquee matches, in a true sign of the times back then.
With Kurt Angle squaring off against The Undertaker one-on-one and Chris Jericho facing Triple H in a Last Man Standing contest, the pressure was on for the show-closing bout between Chris Benoit and The Rock to deliver. Luckily for the fans in attendance, it didn’t disappoint.
With Chris Benoit still riding a wave of momentum following his WCW Championship win in January, his immediate jump to WWF and subsequent Intercontinental Title victory at WrestleMania, “The Crippler” was the perfect candidate to challenge The Rock and the ultimate threat for his coveted WWF Championship. What’s more, the title itself could change hands on a disqualification, as per Commissioner Foley’s ruling; further jeopardising The Rock’s chances of retaining the gold.
Benoit’s physical style and ferocious offense brought the best out of “The People’s Champ” and, following a back and forth match-up, the intense action came to a head when Benoit’s ringside associate, Shane McMahon, struck the ref with a steel chair. When the ref came to and saw The Rock holding the very same chair, he put two and two together, solved to X and came up with five; declaring Benoit the winner by DQ - thus making him the WWF Champion...for about five minutes.
Soon enough, Commish Foley interjected on behalf of his former Rock ‘n’ Sock tag partner and quickly corrected referee, Earl Hebner, by restarting the match there and then; as the bloodied People's Champ invited his opponent to “bring it” as only The Rock can. A PO’d Wolverine returned to the ring and, two and a half minutes later, fell foul to a Rock Bottom and the status quo was restored with The Rock walking out with the strap.
Due to Benoit’s participation, the match has been all but erased from the WWE archives; however, the bout itself is a forgotten classic and well-worth revisiting.