3. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit For The WWE Championship
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIzNTIS1TBs Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit had many great matches over the years. Angle came into his own as a pro wrestler while working with Benoit. As the years went by, they developed an incredible in-ring chemistry that made their matches some of the best examples in modern wrestling history of how to work a combination of technical wrestling and the early 2000s, "fast and furious" pace. Everyone expected that their 2003 Royal Rumble match for the WWE title would be great. With the championship involved, there would be added element missing from all their previous bouts. It was a foregone conclusion that they would have one of the year's best matches. The only problem was that the result also seemed like a foregone conclusion. Angle vs. Brock Lesnar had seemed an obvious WrestleMania XIX main-event for several months. They were the owners of the two best amateur backgrounds and they had similar successes in their first year as pros. It had a mentor vs. student feel along with a palpable aura requisite of a major PPV headliner. So, when Angle defended the title against Benoit, the element of unpredictability was missing because everyone assumed that Angle would win. What ultimately made that match so amazing was that Benoit had the wrestling world second-guessing itself. Though there was seemingly no way that Benoit could win, fans would later go onto say that they were, in the split seconds when it seemed like Angle's hand might come crashing down thrice to the mat in a tap out to the Crippler Crossface, imagining scenarios whereby Benoit could win the title and drop it back to Angle in time for the presumed Kurt vs. Brock showdown for Mania. Defying the usual standards of an all-time classic at just 20-minutes in length for a standard match, Benoit vs. Angle became known as the best non-Rumble match (and arguably the best match, period) in Royal Rumble PPV history.
"The Doc" Chad Matthews has written wrestling columns for over a decade. A physician by trade, Matthews began writing about wrestling as a hobby, but it became a passion. After 30 years as a wrestling fan, "The Doc" gives an unmatched analytical perspective on pro wrestling in the modern era. He is a long-time columnist for Lordsofpain.net and hosts a weekly podcast on the LOP Radio Network called "The Doc Says." His first book - The WrestleMania Era: The Book of Sports Entertainment - ranks the Top 90 wrestlers from 1983 to present day, was originally published in December 2013, and is now in its third edition.
Matthews lives in North Carolina with his wife, two kids, and two dogs.