10. Shawn Michaels vs Shelton Benjamin - Raw, May 2nd, 2005
Shawn Michaels vs Shelton Benjamin I love me a good tournament. Nothing gets my wrestling trousers tightened more than eight to sixteen men going at it, all night long. By which of course I mean, I think it's a simple and exciting storytelling tool. For those of you who don't remember, this was a King of the Ring style tournament to determine the number one contender for Batista's newly acquired World Heavyweight Championship. The participants also included Kane, Christian, HHH, Edge, Jericho and Benoi....The Hurricane, I'm pretty sure it was the Hurricane. I liked everything about Gold Rush: it created compelling television where you felt anybody could win, except for Christian. But none of the matches came close to the 'blink and you'll miss it' quarter final cracker between Michaels and 'Kofi Kingston of 2005', Shelton Benjamin. The very opposite of a slow burner, this is 15 minutes of non-stop action dramatically halted when Benjamin takes a stiff kick to the jaw mid-air. It's a fitting end really. Both men played chicken until one of them crashed and burned. The beauty of this bout is in their ability to make everything seem believable while going full throttle. It would be easy for them to have sold nothing and just shoot through a bunch of impressive looking maneuvers. Instead the timing here feels perfect. Anything longer than 15 minutes and they would have had to slow down or risk becoming an indie-style spot fest. Benjamin looked incredible here. It's a shame he never found the personality to take his career to the next level. But much like his stand out MITB performances, he proved that given the right circumstances he could shine with the very best.