Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho vs. Steve Austin & Triple H

[9.0] "This match pitted The Two-Man Power Trip, heel champions Steve Austin and Triple H, against underdog challengers Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. Austin and HHH were dominating forces, holding both the World and Tag Team Titles, while Benoit and Jericho were uneasy allies fresh off a gruelling tag team turmoil victory. The match carried a clear David-versus-Goliath dynamic: the smaller Canadians had to outthink, outfight, and survive against two of the most dangerous competitors of the era. From the opening bell, the action was fast, stiff, and varied, with Jericho and Benoit showcasing clever teamwork, aerial attacks, and technical manoeuvres to offset the size and power advantage of Austin and HHH. Benoit delivered a flurry of suplexes, German suplexes, and enzuigiris, while Jericho added high-impact moves and near-falls, keeping the crowd engaged and invested. Austin and HHH responded with calculated punishment, weapon usage, and methodical in-ring dominance, creating constant tension and near-fall drama. The story of the match was heightened by the referee's blunders and distractions, which, while integral to the finish, often pushed the match toward chaotic overbooking, at times confusing who was the legal man and undermining the otherwise tight narrative of underdogs overcoming adversity. The crowd, however, was fully invested, reacting to every near-fall and reversal, while Jim Ross and Paul Heyman's commentary elevated the drama and stakes, making the story of Benoit and Jericho's triumph feel significant. A defining moment came when Triple H tore his quad attempting to break Jericho's Walls of Jericho. Despite the injury, HHH continued to participate in the match, demonstrating extreme toughness and professionalism--a performance that adds historic significance to the bout. While the match was exciting, well-paced, and intense, its short length and chaotic referee involvement prevent it from being a timeless classic. Its main draws today are the nostalgic energy of early-2000s RAW and witnessing HHH's legendary perseverance. Solid wrestling and a compelling story of underdogs versus champions, but it falls short of greatness. ****1/4"

[8.0] "The famous match were Triple K blew out his quad lmao. This is a really good tag match that is maybe a little too chaotic for it's own good. That is defintly the selling point here, Austin and H are pretty good heels playing infront of a red hot crowd. Benoit and Jericho are great as the faces with Benoit being the highlight as his babyface in pearl segment I thought was very good. But the match just breaks down a little too much with the not legal man in Jericho getting the pinfal victory over Austin. Hebner is all over the place getting hit and not seeing pins and just not seeing fucking chair and sledgehammer shots. It is chaotic which can be fun, but just a little too much for this to go into the next tier for me. Still a really good match that I think everyone should watch. ****1/4 (4.25)"

[7.0] "Yes, this is a good team match. It's a great way to fill up airtime on a weekly show. However, it's ridiculous to say that this match deserves a score of 9 or 10. This is my personal opinion, but I don't see anything in this match that justifies such a high rating. It's just a regular team match that was well-executed, but nothing more than that"

[10.0] "The hot crowd and the chaotic nature of the match keeps you on the edge of your seat. I can't think of another match under 15 minutes that was as good as this. The structure and the execution of this match can't be understated. With so much going on, it's just so impressive how well this match came together. Incredibly unfortunate that HHH tore his quad in this match (makes you wonder how much that affected the invasion storyline), but what a badass to finish the match even though you could tell that he was in severe pain. This has to be in the running for best Raw match ever."

[10.0] "Besides the horrible misfortune with Triple H tearing his quad, this was a damn near perfect match. Austin and Triple H are at their very best as a team here and it's just brilliant when they attack Benoit and aggressively cut off the ring to such an extent that the arena was literally shaking as they are desperate for Jericho to tag as they do all of the classic heel tactics to keep control of the match where they leverage a hold, which also has the classic Earl Hebner bit where he spots it and kicks the arm so Benoit can power out of it. They do the classic 'ref doesn't see the tag' spot and they time it to perfection with Benoit taking so much punishment in the match. It gets really chaotic in all the best ways as well where the big moment happened where Triple H tears up his quad breaking up the Walls of Jericho and even though he does his very best to disguise it as he continues the match, it's obvious how serious his injury is by the way he limps to the announce table to go to the next spot where he is reversed and gets locked in the Walls for what must have been an agonising amount of time as hes in it long enough for the ref not to see Benoit get the diving as he doesn't count the fall and Austin almost won with the Stunner before Jericho pulls out the ref at the last moment. Unbelievably Triple H still gets involved in the finish where he accidentally hits Austin with the sledgehammer and Benoit and Jericho become the new champions. It's an extraordinary effort from Triple H to not only finish the match of this kind of intensity, but to also actively still do all the big spots he needed to do in order to complete the story of the match and the atmosphere thoughout the match was just off the charts. This was a PPV quality main event without a doubt as they produced something truly special here."

[9.0] "It must eat Triple H up knowing that two of his best matches have been stricken for the record and will never be talked about as the classics they are, for obvious reasons of course. A candidate for the best tv match ever. Fact this match was thrown on Raw and not a PPV main event. Insane crowd. Austin at his peak as a vicious heel and Triple H tearing his quad and finishing the match. We dont get matches this good dumped on tv anymore"

[9.0] "[9.0] "One of the most intense tag title matches I've seen. Sure it wasn't "wrestling" and sure it was only 13 minutes long but the execution"

[9.0] "Surefire contender for the greatest television match ever, and easily one of the best tag matches ever. Just insane technical ability, and drama all added into one with the four best workers in the company at the time to give you the best match of WWF that year. Triple H taking a Walls while on a torn quad is a legendary moment in wrestling history, and I'm sure this would be considered WWE's best tag match ever if it was not for one of the competitors involved. Regardless, a zenith point in the Attitude Era. ****3/4"

[9.0] "[4.25*] This is just an incredible match and a personal favorite from RAW of mine. This was just chaotic, electric, thrilling and big time, everything a TV main event should be. Really, this is a masterclass, hands fucking down. The fact that this only had 13 minutes and Triple H injured himself earlier on the match makes their accomplishment even more valuable, because if they had 20 minutes and all 4 men on full capacity, this could have been a 5* match, I have no doubt about it. HHH taking a Walls Of Jericho on the announcers stable while gushing in real pain is just insane, wtf. The ending stretch is heart stopping, with an incredible late escape by Benoit that let the crowd on fire and a very believable finish where HHH accidentally hits Steve with his sledgehammer for a gigantic pop. The atmosphere was perfect, the names involved were huge and the action was tremendous."

[9.0] "[4.75 Stars] Wow, it was a crazy match, the crowd was stratospheric! At the same time, the Star-Power was grandiose! The in-ring was good, but it was the crowd that really Carried the match. This kind of wild crowd is sorely lacking in wrestling today and it's great to see it again, special mention to Triple H who continued the match a few minutes after getting badly injured it's honorable. (****, 75)"

[9.0] "[4.5*] This match encapsulates raw is war, what a crazy match, motion from top to bottom, a lot of referee distractions, triple h was a badass for taking the submission even with an injury"

[10.0] "An amazing tag match and easily a match of the year contender, Jericho and Benoit are typically rivals but worked as a great team here. Triple H was injured and looked like a total badass fighting through his injury like that."

[10.0] "(*****) This was just amazing, one of the greatest crowds I have heard in forever, the match itself was great, this can easily be MOTY, also the injury of Triple H, the fact that he still wrestled, plus being put in the laws of Jericho is a true warrior, easily Best Raw match."

[9.0] "For me that is the best Raw match ever and one of the best tag team match ever in the history of business. The pace was incredible. So awesome for a TV. This match shows that for a 5 star match you don't particularily need ladders or interferences or any extreme shit."

[9.0] "WOW! Austin and Hunter in their prime as performers, both with a fantastic 2001 against Krispen Wah and Jericho emerging for their best years in WWE. What could come out of this? A banger in just 15 minutes that had everything, even an injury that benefited the end of the match. And the crowd was a show in itself. Benoit is one of the best sellers of his era and Jericho with a comeback worthy of his athleticism in the period. Simply unstoppable. And when the match got chaotic, he just had the best guy to make it good, Austin in the best year of his career, his interaction against Benoit was beautiful. And the ending with HHH injured against Jericho delivered the missing piece in the chaos, a drop of drama. One of the best weekly matches in history. With 5 more minutes it would have been one of the best tags ever, it's a shame there was the injury [****1/2]."

[9.0] "This is another case where I watch a match and think its overrated but upon rewatch, I get it. This isnt the greatest raw match of all time, but its up there. This isnt the greatest tag match of all time, but its up there. These four went out there and put on such a high speed action movie match. Jericho was doing crazy shit, Benoit was a proper underdog and Austin and Trips played the massive asshole heels to a tee. The crowd definitely elevated this match. They were going nuts for every single slight movement these guys were doing. Jericho and Benoit worked so well as a team and its really nice to see them overcome the odds. I cant talk about this match without mentioning Triple Hs quad tear either. The fact he tore it off the bone and then took THE WALLS OF JERICHO is outrageous. He is such a beast."

[7.0] "Great match with amazing performance by Triple H. He worked like half of the match with hard injury and showed why he is tough guy. Match was really good but i think little bit overrated, i would give it ****1/4. There was some cool offence for sure but for some time it felt like a normal regular RAW tag match"

[9.0] "Tremendous match: Austin and HHH were the perfect heels to put against two awesome underdogs like Benoit and Jericho. The first part was mostly in control of Austin and HHH however Benoit's hot tag for Jericho was very well teased multiple times and once Jericho got the tag the crowd erupts. HHH and Austin's heat spots were very well done and Jericho literally going out of the ring to beat up Austin and HHH was awesome. The final minutes were super intense with lots of twists and an outstanding climax. Triple H's tored his quad but kept fighting and didn't miss a single spot, a real pro. The ending with the sledgehammer spot was brillant. 9/10 - 4.5*/5*"

[5.0] "There's some good moments in here but it also does so many things about tag matches that I just absolutely hate. After a couple minutes, there's just no rules apparently and the ref feels completely pointless as there's constant interferences and several weapon shots. Its like every big match from this era has to turn into a no DQ spotfest after 5 minutes or they think the crowd won't pay attention."

[9.0] "Ultra solid, fast and lively match. A crazy audience as well as the commentators. Triple H injures his knee but manages to stay on his feet afterward. Great finish with the explosion of the crowd. (4*1/2)"

[7.0] "Like most WWE matches in ring action is secondary to story. When I am rewatching old matches I want good action rather than good soap opera. WWE Ruthless Agression Era was my introduction to wrestling as a kid. But I stopped watching WWE because all its matches follow the same in-house style and this is no different."

"This match is insanely good everything about the story works so well its a shame you wont be able to see it on peacock because whos in it"

[9.0] "I could see how some would say its a basic standard tag team match with a hot finish and well thats basically what it is lol. Austin and hhh dominate for majority of it with Benoit being the underdog baby face trying to get the hot tag to Jericho and once he does well shit really kicks up to another gear. The final 5 minutes or so is some of the best finshes to a match and to an Episode of Raw ever. Electric crowd with an insane climax where hhh tears his quad yet somehow finshes the match still dont know how he did it. The crowd explodes when Y2J gets the 3 count. Mostly known for being the match where hhh torn his quad but its much much more than just that. 4.25/5"

[10.0] "Intense pace right from the start from Jericho and Austin. Say what you want about Jericho these days, but he's great at getting the best out of his opponents when he wants to. Benoit continues the fast pace with Austin- plenty of chops and stomps in this brawl of a match and they are all landing hard. The back and forth between all four men is so fluid and violent. A great set of heat on Benoit and you forget how good Austin was at getting heat. That's right- this is during Austin's heel run in WWF, which makes this match even more insane. The audience is 100% behind the babyfaces, and Benoit's selling is off the charts great. This audience is part of what makes this match so good. Big boos for cheating, big cheers for referee catching the cheating, even an "Austin sucks" chant at one point. They tease the hot tag and all of a sudden everyone's on the outside and it's true pandemonium; even Hebner's bumping out there. Heyman says the entire building is shaking and he's right- this audience is what makes this match a 10. A very not-full building is behind this match like nothing else and they'll be damned if they don't get their hot tag. Then the absolute insane finish to this match... a legendary moment of the attitude era. So many moving parts, every beat of the finish somehow topping the last until the end, where we see Austin take a pin in the middle of the ring. How many times did that happen after 1998? I can't imagine a better tag match than this; there's never a dull moment."

[9.0] "One of the greatest tag team matches ever and a truly iconic entry into the WWE/WWF catalog. Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho were otherworldly in how they elicited the perfect crowd response, and Stone Cold and Triple H fed perfectly into that as dominant heels. This was a brutal underdog story, with Benoit and Jericho fighting with reckless abandon as they sought to overcome one of the most dominant duos in WWE history. All of this combined to create what is often regarded as one of the best matches in Monday Night Raw history. The suspense, the dominant heel work, and the perfect babyface comebacks made this a special match and moment. Triple H showing generational toughness gives it a gruesome but still respected moment for the ages. Throw in an unbelievable crowd and this damn near hits five stars, especially by the standard of wrestling in 2001. 4.75 stars, 9.5 out of 10. One of the best tag team and WWE matches ever."

[9.0] "The crowd is unbelievably invested, Austin and Triple H play classic heels, the Chris's are aggressive babyfaces outwrestling the heels, heels cheat for advantage, big climax at the end. It's not an original formula, but it's the classic tag formula, and they do it amazingly here. The star power involved and the atmosphere of MSG definitely helps, but this match stands on its own merit."

[4.0] "Austin and Jericho keep a fast pace that is compelling, however every time Triple H is involved the match seems to grind to a halt with the "visual pin" on Benoit being needless and almost absurd. Overall a memorable match that is entertaining but flawed."

[8.0] "Who deserves credit in this match is HHH for being able to continue having blown his knee in the middle of the match, for what is considered the best match in RAW history for me it left a lot to be desired (****)"

[10.0] "Arguably the greatest RAW match in history. Such a shame that this doesn't get hyped up by WWE (understandably of course)"

[10.0] "The underdogs Benoit and Jericho are set to have the biggest matchup of their lives against Austin and HHH. Austin and HHH play the heel roles so well with the distraction of the referees in order to get the upper hand at certain points. The early back and forth between both teams is fantastic. Later on tho Austin and HHH isolate Benoit greatly with Jericho desperately trying to get in with a hot tag. Jericho would even tag in but it wouldn't count since the ref didn't see it, but it only helped to build up Jericho's hot tag. When Jericho finally was able to get his hot tag in the match reached a whole other level. They had an intense back and forth session for a while, HHH hitting Austin with the hammer showed that their hellish tactics come back to bite them. The only issue I have with this match is towards the end where the referee is just ignoring who the illegal man was supposed to be.****3/4"

[10.0] "My second favorite tag team match of all time, behind FTR vs Briscoes, and in my opinion the best match in RAW history. Sadly this match is only remembered for Triple H's injury but everything else was perfect, from the beginning to the end. It's sad that the WWE will never mention this match because of Benoit, because it's a real classic. Plus, let's remember how Triple H still managed to finish the match with a serious injury, a real master of professionality"

[9.0] "such an easy match to watch. jr and heyman do amazing commentary (duh) its only 13 minutes you can watch this wherever and whenever you want. its not the most insane match ever but its still 9/10 i would give it 4.5 stars"

[10.0] "Excellent match par équipe, totalement fou. Le parfait mélange de star power, alchimie, gros talent in-ring, explosion de la foule, le finish est parfait en plus. Un bon gros bordel pour finir Triple H qui continue à faire l job sur une seule jambe. Un fucking MUST SEE Rating: ****3/4"

[8.0] "The finishing stretch was good but the first half was nothing special. And even the finishing stretch wasn't some kind of iconic, all-time great finishing stretch. It was well executed, and Triple H deserves props for toughing it out"

[9.0] "What a euphoric match tag team, 14 minutes spent in a match full of psychology, Austin trying to keep Benoit under control while cheating with HHH, all this under the anger of Y2J, every time he could, Benoit had a comeback but at the moment he returned to fall, the last minutes were euphoric, from those walls of Jericho at the commentary table to HHH, to Benoit's tremendous headbutt to Austin, the rest of the match sells itself, the end is euphoric and new champions, impressive. [* * * * 1/2]"

[8.0] "I used to be pretty high on this match a few years ago (****1/4 - ****1/2), but after watching a lot more wrestling since then I now better understand what sort of wrestling I like. I still consider this a low-key great match, especially by TV standards and WWE/F standards, but it's more of a 'story' match than an 'in-ring' match. Austin and HHH were great as the dastardly heels with all their 2-v-1 beatdowns, constant ref distractions, and other such cheap or outright illegal tricks to get the upper hand. Jericho and Benoit were immediately treated like equal stars to the champs due to the energetic and powerful comeback sequences they intermittently got throughout the match, making it very easy to cheer for them because they were the sympathetic underdogs fighting against unfair odds AND they were constantly impressing in the ring as well, instead of just being beaten down for ages without getting anything in to make themselves stand out. Both teams played their respective heel and babyface roles perfectly, allowing Benoit and Jericho to amplify Austin and HHH's heel work due to how great their own babyface work was, and vice versa, as if both teams were constantly establishing ground work to prop the other team up. The pace built up brilliantly as HHH and Austin continued to dominate Benoit in the later-middle period while Jericho became desperate for a tag. The fake-out on Jericho's first attempted hot tag was great, making his eventual actual hot tag even more exciting. Jericho nonchalantly pulling the ref out of the ring when he was counting the pin for Austin's Stunner on Benoit was easily the best moment of the match, as if Jericho was also getting back at the ref for previously being so accidentally biased against them. The drama in the final few minutes as both teams rapidly traded control back and forth was great, doing a very convincing job teasing that either team could win at any moment off of any big move that they pulled out. HHH accidentally using the sledgehammer on Austin was a generic but still cool moment to show the heels' underhanded work coming back to bite them, followed by another cool moment as Benoit then tackled HHH to the outside to finally neutralise him and allow Jericho to get the pin. As exciting as the pace was, and as much as the crowd's investment added to the atmosphere, the majority of the in-ring work here wasn't super creative or intense. It was still very good and even great at moments, but nothing overly special. Also, the fact that the ref went back and forth on treating Jericho and Benoit as both being the legal man for their team despite zero tags being made, and despite the ref being so completely ardent about enforcing the tag rules for the first half, felt pretty illogical. It at least made for some cool spots when the fast pace of everything distracted me, but realising such logical flaws exist definitely brings the match down a bit. ***3/4"

[9.0] "Being told about the greatnes of this particular bout was nice and but one day i found myself in the mood to watch it. Most of the match was PPV level of workrate although a bit too rushed. The timings were on the whole thing, false finishes were genuenly heartstopping with the reversals being so crisp and popworthy i was thrilled to watch this FREE TV match. Although one moment with a tag given between the defending champs was bad scouthed by Hebner and sad fact of Triple H injury held place there it was a solid 4, 50 / 5. Recommended"

[10.0] "Greatest tag team match in the history of pro wrestling as far as I'm concerned. Only negative is that Triple H got injured in his prime."

[10.0] "As brilliant as I remembered this being. Austin is so good in this and I don't think any wrestler has had a better year than he did in 2001. He keeps Benoit under control with eye pokes so subtle that Jim Ross doesn't even pick up on them the first time around. The heels isolating Benoit and keeping him away from his partner is one of the best examples of a building up for a hot tag I've ever seen. They do a fake-out when Benoit gets the tag and Earl Hebner isn't there to see it. It was so brilliantly executed that I didn't care that I was rooting for a child murderer. Once the tag is finally made, all hell breaks loose. Props to Triple H for carrying on after tearing his quad. My only gripe in this is that Earl Hebner's officiating feels rather inconsistent. Aside from that minor nitpick, this is probably the best straight-up tag match WWE has ever put on and one of the best RAW matches of all-time."

[9.0] "Yeah this was absolutely amazing. The crowd was red hot, everyone involved worked together with great chemistry, and the heel work by Austin and HHH is some of the best I've seen. For a 14 minute match, I don't see how this could've been much better. Also, the commentary by Ross and Heyman somehow made this even more enjoyable, they were definitely on their A-game this night. The ending with HHH accidentally hitting Austin with the sledgehammer allowing Jericho and Benoit to win was great. ****1/2"

[10.0] "This had everything. A red hot crowd, two commentators on their A-game, a perfect heel team vs underdog babyface team. Everything went right in this match (well, besides HHHs quad) and it is very rare you get a match so perfectly done as this where every element is at 100. (****3/4)"

[10.0] "This match had it all: the ultimate underdogs vs the arrogant heels, epic individual wrestlers with epic entrances and a over the top wild crowd, Triple H and his injury, classic commentary of JR and Heyman going nuts.. This is what wrestling is all about!"

[7.0] "The most interesting part of the match is actually HHH tearing his quad quite frankly but that doesn't necessarily elevate the match to 'awesome' status, even if it is really fast paced. I don't rate matches solely on pace and crowd pop, I rate them more on intensity and big time moments personally. And based on that criteria this was good, but not necessarily great."

[9.0] "Greatest Raw match ever. The finish could? ve been better without the sledgehammer ending. HHH wrestling through that quad injury was great too! ****3/4"

[9.0] "Super hot crowd for this one. The Power Trip are great on offence, cutting off Benoit from Jericho in a big way and taking their turns in pummpling him. Benoit's selling of this was great as well. He sold his despsration to tag out really well. Jericho's hot tag was pretty good as well. The match was superbly well built with great performances all around. And with the little extra knowlegde that HHH toughed out a torn quad. It maybe doesn't get that super high level for me though. ****1/4"

[6.0] "This was a good match in front of a red hot crowd, with a commentary team doing everything within their power to put Jericho and Benoit over."

[10.0] "The best match in RAW history. This was an excellent tag match, worked very well as almost an old school NWA 80s tag match just with the more faster pacing you expect from the attitude era. The Two Man power trip worked over Benoit pretty well and then the hot tag sequence with Jericho going wild was great. Austin clearly had tons of fun playing heel here and the crowd was willing to play along with Benoit/Jericho as the underdog babyfaces. Lets not forget to give HHH a ton of credit for not only managing to finish the match but also not letting his injury affect the quality. Just four masters of the craft going out there and putting on a classic. ****3/4"

[7.0] "Really good match with a hot crowd. Good heel work from the defending champions and the Chris duo were great at fighting from underneath. There was some decent tag team team stuff going early on and the second half saw things break down in exciting fashion. A few bad red spots took me out of the action a little. Triple H finishing the match with what turned out to be such a bad injury make it tough to watch when he? s in the walls of Jericho at the end. There? s a lot of high ratings for this and I can see why, the intensity and drama were all there between these four legends but watching it standalone It fell short of classic for me."

[10.0] "The best RAW match ever, EVER! Crowd was red hot, supporting Benoit and Jericho, and Triple H and Stone Cold were the top heels there, so Y2J and Benoit needed to show everyone of what are they made and that they can top the top champs of that time. This wasn't a technical masteriece, or an in-ring phenomenal performance but a storytelling goodness instead, and a perfect told one! *****"

[7.0] "It was a good Tag match. The crowd was hot for the entire match and the finish was really good, but the first part of the match was nothing special. Triple H finishing the match with a torn quad show how much he loves wrestling."