Chris Benoit vs. Randy Orton

[7.0] "As technically brilliant as it is unusually dry, this goes almost half an hour and drifts for much of it, ultimately landing on a hilariously out of place finish. On quality of work alone, it's worth a look, but there isn't much to sink your teeth into beyond that, even if the Crossface teases are neat. ***1/4"

[6.0] "The wrestling itself is really crisp becsuse of the talent involved, but it just seems like two different kinds of matches duct taped together that don't fit well at all, especially considering the sheer length of this. I might be feeling generous with going this high."

[5.0] "Really slow pace with a lot of interferences, and overall it felt pretty average, as nothing truly stood out despite a few decent moments."

[10.0] "I seem to be much higher on the pairing of young Randy Orton and late stage bloated Chris Benoit. Their title matches in 2004 are excellent and I think this one is actually even better than those. They top their previous outing every time they get in the rign together in a big setting."

[7.0] "This was a very good match. Randy Orton became Booker T's replacement in the Best of 7 series and lost the previous 2 matches through no fault of his own. This was unlike most Orton matches that I've seen. This was very match a mat wrestling style match, with Chris Benoit adding in his own intensity and chops to make it look like Orton went through a war. Even though Orton is not the greatest mat based wrestler, the dynamic of Benoit being his opponent made this match very enjoyable. The one thing that brings this match down a bit was the overbooked finish. When the referee got knocked down, you had Orlando Jordan come out to interfere and Orton immediately took him out. Aside from Jordan costing Orton the previous match in the series, that was kinda pointless. Then Booker T came back out after being sent to the back by Nick Patrick, and tried to attack Benoit only to fail. Then Benoit got Orton to tap out from the Crossface, but Booker came in and hit Benoit in the upper back area and cost him the match. ***3/4"

[2.0] "Thirty grueling minutes of a boring slog. I have never felt a vast feeling of emptiness when watching a Chris Benoit match. There is nothing here to sink your teeth into, there's no great spots, there's stupid ass overbooking with Orlando Jordan & Booker T. This is straight up a nothing burger of a match. *"

[8.0] "Well, this certainly wasn't a match that you would ever expect Randy Orton to wrestle in. Chris Benoit does mat-based wrestling, but so does Randy Orton, and it creates something that is compelling. Everything they did had a nice sense of urgency, even when they were able to do moves they struggled. The selling of both men was very good. The finish however with Booker T interference was very cheap.****"

[4.0] "Not a big fan of this match. Too long with a slow pace. And i didn't like the the finish with all the interferences."

[4.0] "Pretty slow match with alot of bland mat work and your typical WWE 'cheap finish. ' A bit too basic for my tastes, and too long for what it was trying to accomplish."

[9.0] "Unbelievable contest. The limb work and mat wrestling was tremendous. Didn't know Orton had this in him. They put on a clinic. The wrestling was very violent, nasty and stiff. They struggled for everything, every hold, every move, every strike. They battled with each other and it was excellent. The selling was tremendous by both. Benoit was amazing but Orton was the fucking man here. ****1/2"

[9.0] "Definitely not your typical Randy Orton match - this had some super awesome mat work, it felt gritty, it felt violent. It followed the same formula as many of the battles Benoit had vs. the likes of Finlay & Regal, as in that they were really good technical wrestling matches, but also came off like a war between two men trying to put each other away. Excellent stuff. ****"

[7.0] "A very 50-50 match for me, but it's more on the good side, so I'll say 65-35. The final match of the Best of 7 series is very technical mat based wrestling with lots of rest holds, so it's not a very exciting match apart from a few awesome spots such as the headbutt on the barricade to Randy, and the RKO quickly countered to the crossface. It is certainly PPV quality wrestling and it proves why Smackdown was by far the better wrestling show than RAW."

[9.0] "Absolutely fantastic work from both men. A different style to what Randy usually works like because they take a methodical, mat-based approach instead of the typical WWE style with constant move exchanges and control segments. There's never a time where one man has the full upper-hand in this match. This is like Benoit vs Regal or Benoit vs Finlay. Very mat based, kinda smash-mouthed and they set the pace their own way by starting out slow and picking it up as the match goes by. Not a big fan of the shenanigans during the finish but they wanted to protect Benoit in defeat so I understand that. A must watch for any fan and evidence that Orton can excel as a technical wrestler. As a bonus, anybody who has the WWE Network is able to find this match on there to enjoy."