Brock Lesnar & Chris Benoit vs. Charlie Haas, Kurt Angle & Shelton Benjamin

[8.0] "Physical, scrappy stuff that tonally, provides a neat snapshot of the era. Well, this particular crop's part of that era anyway, operating with an edge that defined SmackDown's bigger hits. The control sections aren't much but the work is superb, razor sharp at every turn and armed with a palpable intensity. That provides a grit that traditionally, isn't exactly a WWE staple. It allows this group to have a real chemistry, a sense of competition that elevates all involved. ***3/4"

[7.0] "Fun build to this throughout the night with it becoming a handicap match because Edge went to the hospital. Also presented Team Angle super strong as coming in with all the gold, but it's hard to make Lesnar look like an underdog in really any scenario tbh. I was going to say that Haas and Benjamin did a really good job of making Lesnar look super strong, but I also think that was just him at this time. Benoit feels a tad like an afterthought even though he got a sick hot tag spot, but I'm sure it's building to a Benoit/Edge v Team Angle Mania match?"

[8.0] "Yeah this was a banger. Unfortunately, early on Kurt Angle broke his neck and yet you would not know with his performance, that is a real man. Brock Lesnar needs to be talked about here, dude was on another level. His fire, power and athleticism is unmatched. Every move he did looked killer and explosive. Kurt throughout tried to hide from brock and was cowardly as to not give away too much for Wrestlemania, they isolated Benoit making him the face-in-peril which he did a great job of. This was well paced, high-octane action packed and lots of fun with the duo of Benoit & Brock coming out on top in the end after a frantic and fun closing sequence. Great action and well done storytelling."

[8.0] "Generally not a handicap match guy but this was great! Benjamin and Haas look so perfect next to Angle and I thought Shelton really shined here. But everyone moves around the ring so effortlessly and it was fun seeing Brock and Benjamin go at it for a bit, especially given their history."

[8.0] "Shelton starts out with Benoit, there's nothing fancy there but its all really good. Benoit and haas less so but Lesnar comes in and even him doing shoulders and kicks into the corner at this point in his career is wildly impressive, he's just an absolute freak of nature at this point. Lesnar Gorilla presses Haas and Benjamin while just staring at Angle. Angle gets a choke on Lesnar when Shelton superkicks him, then Angle finally gets in, just locking onto a rear naked choke. They are in this way too long past the point of it being interesting. Lesnar eventually launches Angle temple first into the turnbuckle. Benoit comes in and clears house with suplexes to everyone, fun stuff there. Benoit heads up fro the headbutt but gets met by Angle for a pop up top rope belly to belly. Lesnar goes frlying from Shelton Benjamin off the apron, Haas hits a nice belly to belly on Benoit, Angle comes in mostly just stomps away and then a front facelock on Benoit, not much here. there's some back and forth here before Kurt hits a big german suplex. Haas comes in and then he and Shelton do a nice tandem move. Shelton gets chopped to the ground and does a drop toe hold that's super smooth, he's been fantastic so far in this match. Lesnar comes in for the hot tag and hits everyone with belly to bellies before putting Haas in the corner in one of the coolest ways I've ever seen. Everyone goes over the top rope after Lesnar tries for the F-5, back in the ring Angle and Benoit transition beautifully between submission moves. Angle's really at the top of his game here with his smoothness. Haas breaks it up but gets put in the crossface, Lesnar shoves Benjamin out of the ring and hits Angle with an F-5 as Benoit gets Haas to tap. really really fun match, incredibly high quality of wrestling. Rules kinda got ignored quite a bit, and probably didn't make sense for Lesnar and Benoit to win against a team the likes of Team Angle, but it really was an awesome, awesome match, despite swimming upstream against a bad stipulation and just generally weird booking."

[8.0] "Very good match despite a stipulation that I hate. Chris Benoit and Brock Lesnar are dynamic enough to make up for their numerical inferiority that it practically seems like a 3vs3. (4*)"

[7.0] "Exactly what you would expect from this bunch. Team Angle looked fantastic as all three guys moved flawlessly in the ring. Similar with Benoit and Lesnar, who had an incredible aura around him whenever he entered the ring. They told a nice story of Angle avoiding Brock for the most part, but eventually The Beast getting his hands on him for a moment and Chris didn't feel like a fifth wheel here, as he was still over with the fans after his contest with Angle. Good match, fast action, great structure."

[6.0] "This was a good match to me that never felt great. Benoit's frenzy of suplexes felt like it was getting into a next gear but it never stayed there. Still, team Angle rules and this was 5 of the best wrestlers the company had to offer in one ring, so it was cool"

[7.0] "It was a good match. All the wrestlers did great, I think Lesnar did very well and Team Angle made him look like a dominant beast, especially towards the end where Benoit makes the tag for him to come in and he completely destroys his opponents. I really liked the combination of Brock Lesnar and Chris Benoit as a tag team."

[8.0] "In an alternate universe Benoit and Lesnar would have made for an awesome tag team. Their intensity and explosivity were very well matched, and it was believable that they'd need to be at a numbers advantage against three great athletes to have a competitive match. Team Angle did very well working together to stay on top, and it culminated in a very good hot tag from Lesnar. Angle and Benoit got to race through some of their always impressive reversal sequences as well, which is always a treat. Really fun handicap match."

[8.0] "Unsurprisingly a great tag team match given the talent involved. The crowd was firmly invested in Benoit. The match is kept at a really fast pace with a very good chaotic feel. Theres good storytelling where Team Angle isolate Chris Benoit and pray on Lesnar's inexperience. Lesnar's offense looks like a bull in a china shop. Fun match and a really good PPV debut for Team Angle as well."

[6.0] "Decent 3 on 2 with a lot of talent involved. I don't think it was as good as I remembered though. Pretty dull in placed unfortunately."

[8.0] "Edge missing this due to an injury sucks, but I don't think this took away from the match. Benoit and Lesnar playing off of each other, coming in with electric hot tags everytime to keep up the blistering pace was great. Angle using Team Angle as a crutch in order to hide behind and pick his spots whenever he comes into the ring is great, Benjamin/Haas are really good for people just brought up to Smackdown. Any time you get to see Benoit/Angle go at it it's a treat and it's no different here. I liked the ending with Lesnar laying out Angle, while Benoit gets the babyface team the win.****"

[6.0] "This was meant to be Lesnar, Benoit, and Edge taking on Team Angle, but Edge was hospitalised due to an attack earlier in the show, so this instead became a handicap match. When your team consists of Lesnar AND Benoit, though, you're never really going to be at a disadvantage. From an in-ring perspective, I believe the match was actually probably aided by the lack of Edge's middling offence to take valuable time away from his partners. Lesnar and Benoit were both monstrous balls of fire whenever they got their hot tags or made long-awaited comebacks, doing very well to clear house and hit a bunch of big moves in rapid succession that highlighted just how immensely physical and athletic they both were. Team Angle had to rely on their decent amateur wrestling skills, team beatdowns, and underhanded tactics to get ahead. Because they (understandably) weren't booked to give anything as exciting as Benoit or Lesnar's output, the match felt a bit bland whenever they were in control. Their bumping and selling were good at least, but Angle was the only one who got some truly impressive offensive moments, and he was otherwise booked as a cowardly heel who would only attack when the odds were overwhelmingly in his favour, which fit his character but didn't make for a super exciting viewing experience. This ended up still being alright because of how hard Benoit and Lesnar worked, but they needed a bit more from Team Angle in order to elevate this. ***"

[8.0] "Edge was meant to be on Lesnar and Benoit's team, but he was ambushed at the show and this is now a handicap match. The pace of this one was electric, with them not slowing down for the entire duration of this 13-minute bout. Both Haas and Benjamin looked comfortable mixing it up with Benoit and Lesnar, despite their inexperience. Any time we get to see Angle and Benoit slug it out, you are guaranteed a good time. Something that I thought was lacking in their Royal Rumble 2003 match was that Angle didn't act like a heel. That's not a problem here as he's always looking for shortcuts to keep Benoit in Team Angle's corner. Benoit's fake-out enziguri to mule kick spot was a fantastic way for Benoit to bide himself enough time to make the tag. Lesnar looked unstoppable when he was cleaning house. The interactions between Angle and Lesnar were limited, but they gave us just enough to leave us salivating for their Wrestlemania match next month. Although this felt like a Smackdown main event. the quality of the match was good enough to not bother me."

[8.0] "Wow this match was great, absolutely exceeded my expectations honestly. Just a blistering pace with some serious intensity from bell to bell. When you have two of the most intense wrestlers in WWE history going up against Team Angle. this is exactly the type of match you would hope to get--and it definitely delivered."

[8.0] "Put 5 of the best performers from this era of WWE together and you're bound to have a good match on your hands. The Benoit/Angle sequences were brilliant, especially Angle's german off the top rope. Feel the match would have been better with Edge in and a bit more time but they did very well with the circumstances they were given, ****"

[8.0] "For me this is prime Lesnar! Very solid work from the young lads Haas and Benjamin in this match also and credits of course to genius wrestler Angle. I loved the action in this match, and the crowd did so too!"

[8.0] "Great match. Easily one of the best Handicap matches I've seen. Finish was great too. Just as Lesnar is about to pin Angle, Benoit makes Haas tap out, which is a great visual and makes you believe that when Angle & Lesnar face off again at WM 19, Angle doesn't have a chance. ****"

[6.0] "Don't udnerstand the hype of this match. 4 of my favourites and Lesnar was one of my favourites at this point. But the match itself was decent but nothing that great."

[8.0] "Really good handicap match here although it was clear that Lesnar & Benoit were the much better team in terms of performance level. Team Angle was alright when it control but Benoit was great as the FIP and Lesnar made an awesome role when placed in for the hot tag as he was just an absolute beast in wanting to destroy Team Angle and more importantly Team Angle. Good stuff all around but certainly worth a watch at least once IMO. (***1/2)"

[8.0] "It got great near the end, I thought overall this was a fun handicap match and built up towards Mania well so can't knock it for that. ****"