10. Has Benoit ever had a five star match, a career-defining match? A few days ago I suggested he hasn't, and some were incensed. Many seem to think his match with Sauske in Japan was defining enough, and although I've never personally seen it, I can imagine it's a living representation of Benoit's career in Japan. Benoit-HHH at No Mercy should have been a brawl, not a technical match, because a nasty brawl would hve played to both men's strengths, not just Benoit's. The Nitro match was probably Chris' defining point in terms of his WCW career, but while the match is fantastic, it was all about Owen and Bret, not Chris Benoit. In fact, most of Benoit's career in North America has been about getting others over and not getting himself over. He's never really been booked to look good, whether he was a babyface or a heel. The WWF booked him as superior to the midcard, but not good enough for the main. He loses to Rock and Austin regularly on television, and when he was in WCW, for all intents and purposes he cemented both Raven's and DDP's career in this business. Chris didn't win often, but his ring style himself gave him credibility, and there's not many wrestlers that can make that statement, the British Bulldogs being a key example. Cool double-teams literally gave the Bulldogs heat. Anyway, Ross suggested a face turn would be in the works, and good riddance.

9. A.J. Styles (nice name, that'll get over) nearly killed himself and will kill others with that Shooting Styles Press. Look, you've been using insane moves for years and years to get over on the independent circuit, but you're in WCW now, it's over. No longer do you have to kill yourself on a nightly basis, you can just try to be a generally good worker. If you want to stay in WCW, your best bet is to not put over anyone, physically assault a WCW employee, have phsyical confrontations with other wrestlers, and attach your lips slowly but surely to Eric Bischoff's ass cause it's '96-'98 all over again, brutha.

8.5. One more note after watching the first thirty minutes on Thunder - In the O'Haire-Jindrak match, as I watched Sean O'Haire basically begin his singles career by taking lessons from Kevin Nash aplenty such as (1) don't sell and (2) use the drop suplex instead of actually suplexing the man as well as (3) looking sloppy, sloppy, sloppy in the ring. It might not be too long until O'Haire's finisher becomes the Seanton Powerbomb, and he squashes Bob Backlund in seven seconds with the manuever, claiming that the world runs on Power Plant...um...power. Please delete the previous sentence from your memory.

8. I remember awhile ago when, subliminally, it seemed like WCW was mimicking everything the WWF did. I'm talking about them being a step behind circa early 1999. Now it seems to have turned, with the WWF stealing ideas from Russo's WCW regime. Whatever criticism Russo's endured, he's affected the booking of this business in a way no one has since Dusty Rhodes.

The most recent example of the WWF doing this was having the owner of the company feud with the commissioner right after WCW did it with The Cat.

We just heard about the stipulations for Austin's match with HHH at No Way Out, and what does it bring to mind? The two of three matches stipulation that Benoit was supposed to wrestle, but that Kidman ended up wrestling on PPV. It's hard to remember clearly, but Dean Malenko wrestled the first match and lost when he rolled out of the ring, forgetting the stipulations of the mach. The second match was with whomever, and the last match was with the Wall, who defeated Kidman.

This match should be better than whatever Russo did, but still a lame cage match ending? If I see another cage match, I may kill myself. There are only two cages I want to see anymore, and I want to see them once a year: The Federation's Hell in a Cell, and WCW's Triple Cage. By the way, the next good main event feud that Scott Steiner has (if it ever comes) should eventually be settled in the Triple Cage. What they should have done was built to a DDP v. Steiner match on Nitro, and settled it in the cage at Superbrawl: Revenge, but whenever Kevin Nash is in the company, a world title farce isn't far away.

7. My best idea for a stipulation (and it's by no means an original one) would have been a savage "I Quit" match. There's plenty of Austin v. Hart at WrestleMania 13 footage to satisfy a backstory. Austin, just like Foley, won't quite. Besides, there hasn't been a high profile I Quit match since the Royal Rumble two years ago. The match would have been an instant selling point. HHH would have the crediblity that he always wanted to make Austin quit. It's perfect, really.

Instead I have to watch overbooking what could be a special match between two competitors. In short, these stipulations are likely to deter me from watching WWF No Way Out in lieu of encouraging me to order it. Fools.

This match will be overbooked, as I'm just waiting for a special guest referee to be named. The presumable main event WWF Title match should be decent, but by now a Rock WWF Title win would be anticlimatic in and of itself. Rock should have lost the belt at Summerslam and regained it at the Royal Rumble. It makes sense to do the title changes at those pay-per-views. Actually, more accurately, Rock should have lost the WWF Title at any time and Austin should have won the belt at the Royal Rumble and turned heel, but I'm not Bruce Pritchard so I guess it doesn't matter.

Also, there are reasons that the WWF didn't pull the trigger on the "I Quit" match or on putting up the Wrestlemania title shot: because HHH will defeat Austin at No Way Out. He's got to: it builds doubt for Austin's title shot, and they avoided the humilating Austin job in the "I Quit" match. That's also the reason the "I Quit" match isn't used very often: there are only so many bullshit finishes ("He would not quit!" or the fake Foley voice, "I Quit, I Quit") and a clean finish could bury someone's career.

6. It's time for him to go: two years ago, I would have told you unequivocably that Jerry Lawler was the best commentary man in wrestling. Lawler has become an unbearable parody of his former self, to the point where I would prefer listening to Tony Schiavone describe Dustin Rhodes' erection as "scintillating" over having Lawler scream PUPPIES PUPPIES PUPPIES just one more fucking time. Jerry, it's over. You're a caricature. Everyone used to say, yeah, sure, but Lawler can get the wrestlers over. Believe me, you only say that because the guys in the WWF are over. It isn't because of Lawler. Michael Hayes and Pritchard are both doing an admirable job on color. Tazz is doing an okay job on color over on heat. Now that Lawler is bringing his stupid schtick to the XFL, would it hurt the WWF to put one new guy in the color position? When Lawler leaves, what are they going to do? It's going to be bad.

5. It's pretty horrible that the popular fantasy booking out there builds to Wrestlemania from the Royal Rumble, but the stuff itself is even more hackeneyed than the WWF itself, which is serious business. Bullshit finishes, horrible angles, tiny little stupid matches, nauseating promos you name it, Scaia and Jacobsen have it down. It's really not that hard to book angles, but the WWF seems to have forgotten how to book a successful, money drawing angle, because the top man in the country hasn't had one since Russo left the company and the Rock 'N' Sock Connection went bye-bye. I can't believe I'm longing for those days, but I am.

4. I said I'd do top ten PPVs of all time, but a more interesting list is top ten overrated PPVs of all time. PPVs are usually overrated because people remember when they were a WWF/ECW/WCW mark and they loved an angle:

10. WCW Slamboree '94
9. WWF WrestleMania V
8. WCW Bash at the Beach '96
7. WWF Summerslam '99
6. WWF WrestleMania X
5. WWF Summerslam '98
4. WWF WrestleMania III
3. ECW Barely Legal
2. WWF WrestleMania VI
1. WWF Royal Rumble '92

Come next week: top ten overrated matches of all time.

3. TV Match of the Week: I was tempted to go with another Thunder match in the opener, but I went another way. Um, by the way, Air Paris is a pretty sweet name. He'll get over.

This is from Smackdown, and it was an excellent yet depressing match.

Chris Benoit v. Steve Austin. They try to build up the two of three falls stipulation. Boring. Benoit's becoming a regular Kane with all the TV jobs he's doing to the top talent. They slug it out, and then Benoit posts him. Benoit does the Modest armbreaker to the mat bit, and then stomps a mudhole. Rights to the forehead. Benoit takes the Bret Hart bump to the post and a second rope clothesline and kicks set up Austin's Benoit style running knee to the gut. Austin hits a belly-to-back suplex and a veritcal suplex. Austin chokes him on the ropes, as they work out the match. Austin jumps Benoit on the ropes for two. He tries another veritcal suplex, but Benoit flips out and chops Hogan. Stunner try, but Austin gets a clothesline instead. Benoit turns a Stunner attempt into the crossface, and the crowd reacts. Weird. Austin fights it off, but finally escapes by the ropes. Austin catches a goot and locks on an STF. HHH comes to ringside, which makes the odds of Benoit winning 444 to 1. Austin starts working the leg on the apron, '96 style. Benoit kicks him off, over the Spanish announce table! Benoit then clotheslines him and pounds him on the Spanish table. Slugfest on the outside. Such chemistry, but one man has to lose, and it's always Chris. Benoit tosses him in, and they have a kickfest leading to a Benoit clothesline for two. Hart-like bump to the post lets the Crippler hit a belly-to-back to set up the flying headbutt. Bloop. He hits the move and tries the crossface, but gets rolled up. The ref is distracted, as Austin takes the Bret bump to the post shoulder first. Austin is tossed, and HHH tosses Benoit a chair. Benoit rolls him back in, and gets cut off with the chair. Benoit is kicked and receives the Stunner mid-chairshot for 1, 2, 3 in 8:31. Another good TV match between these two. *** I'm kind of sick of Benoit jobbing, especially to Austin, but I covered that in my last column, so I'll leave it alone for now.

2. An interesting tidbit that Scott Keith's book reminded me - when the Rock and Sock Connection got together and finally split up, many of us were expecting a Mick Foley heel turn. In the short term, the fact that Vince Russo left didn't seem to affect the next few PPVs. Royal Rumble was awesome, No Way Out was pretty fucking great, and WM was really good as well. Had Vince stayed with the WWF, Mick's book wouldn't have sold as well because he'd have been a heel, and he wouldn't have retired on such a high, but Rock v. Foley, face v. heel would have done such monster business over the summer it would not have mattered. Foley could have retired next year after putting HHH over, and they could have done HHH v. Austin this year. It's all hypothetical, but I don't think I was the only one longing for that television. If It's Your Life did an 8.4 or whatever, I can think of a million things that would do at least that.

1. A lot of people have recently told me what their "favorite" match is. You know, the match they come back again and again, the match that has the sequences the know by heart. Send me an e-mail with your favorite match and why you love it so much and I'll work it into the next column. I'm interested to hear. Gould41@aol.com.

Ultimo Dragon v. Shinjiro Ohtani. This is for the J-Crown, but it wasn't the final of the tournament, shockingly enough. Dragon brings fifteen to twenty titles with him to the ring, while Shinjiro has just shy of seventeen himself. Both men are super-serious before the big title clash.

Dragon is a small little motherfucker. He's near Rey size, seriously, but he's built tougher. I'm not sure quite what that means, but he could definitely kick Rey's ass, and has, in a great match I might get to in a later column. Ohtani works out the kinks to start. Headlock, leglock spot. Dropkick from Ohtani lets him take control, but they flip out la magistral, initiated by Dragon, and Ohtani shakes his finger in that "Don't fuck with me" manner. Tremendous. Dragon goes to the leglock, but he gets reversed to what I can only term a resthold. It last seconds as Dragon punches his way out the corner. Quick submission hold interchanges never get boring. Ohtani grabs a legbreaker, and they go to dueling legbreakers, until Dragon gets the worst of it and grabs the rope to escape Ohtani pulls him back, but it's reversed. Dragon drops an elbow for two, and goes back to the leg. They don't "work over" the body part in Japan as much as they do in America, although psychology has totally disappeared at this point. That's why I liked it so much in Angle v. HHH at RR '01 and HHH v. Benoit at No Mercy. Dragon whips out the cool bridging Indian deathlock. They fight over a suplex, and Ohtani pounds out of it. Ohtani stomps the mudhole, and hits a dropkick and scoop slam to set up the running senton for two. Ohtani transitions beautifully into a headlock and switches it over to a sitting leglock on Dragon's head. He reaches the ropes, but Ohtani kicks him in the back of the head and slaps it back on. Some more neat mat stuff, as Ohtani works over the arm. Wicked move is applied by Ohtani, tough to describe. Dragon gets the ropes.

Ohtani focuses on the arm now, and punishes it on the ropes and on the ground. He's killing Dragon in there. Dragon bridges an armbreaker for two, and then gets one of his own. Dragon gets up and kicks Ohtani in the back. Ohtani Flairs out to the apron, and Dragon dropkicks him off it. He kicks him through the ropes, skins the cat, and misses the follow up plancha, as Ohtani is wise to it. Ohtani suplexes Drago nthe mats, and sentons off the apron, taking Dragon onto the concrete. Nasty spot. Back in the ring, Ohtani gets the slingshot spin kick for two. Crowd heats up. Ohtani's character is a joy to behold: just like Benoit, he gets himself over purely in the context of the match. Ohtani tries for a dragon suplex, but Dragon fights out of, so Ohtani hits the tiger suplex with bridge. 1, 2, no. Ohtani is SHOCKED he didn't get the win. Slingshot kick number two misses, naturally, and Dragon gets la magistral for two. Whew. Dragon hits a vicious tombston a top rope moonsault for two. Double KO. Ohtani is the greatest seller in the history of wrestling, may I say. Dragon tries a rana-rollup, but gets it reversed for another close two. A sequence leads to a Dragon suplex from Ultimo for one, two, no. Ohtani performs my favorite spot in all of wrestling, by being so dead from the move that he rolls to the ropes and holds his head. His head roll up in his face. It's beautiful to see. Dragon does a second rope Asai moonsault for two. Ranabomb sets up the slingshot kick to the back of the head. Ohtani hulks up and hits the tiger suplex! One, two, Dragon breaks out. That sequence still gives me goosebumps. They go to the top rope, but Ohtani is pushed off, and there is that semi-famous image of him running back up to the top rope. Once he finally gets up there, Dragon brings him out of it with a super gourdbuster. Dragon gets the better of it, and hits the running powerbomb for the anticlimatic three in 16:24. Note: I completely made up that match time, but it was twenty minutes with entrances so that should be about right. ****1/2 There's really no question Ohtani should have won the match considering its flow.

They shake hands afterwards, but Ohtani's pissed. The match itself is ridiculously good. I removed 1/2* for the silliness of the beginning mat stuff and oddness of the ending, considering Dragon's relative lack of offense in the match. This reminds me that someone should teach the WCW cruiserweights *transitions.*

By the way, just witnessing Shawn v. Mankind last week and seeing how amazing the pre-match planning for that brawl was, it's hard to really love a by-the-numbers light heavyweight match just because I've seen so many versions of it. Still, Ohtani v. Dragon is pretty much as high as you can go in terms of that style, the same way Foley v. Shawn and Foley v. HHH are pretty much the best brawls ever.

Chris Benoit v. Shinjiro Ohtani. We join the match in progress, as Ohtani has just turned a leglock on him into an STF and then a camel clutch on Benoit. He eventually tranistions that to a standing positions, but a missed dropkick allows Benoit to hit a dropkick and a nasty belly-to-back to take control. Snap suplex for two. He bashes Ohtani's head on the turnbuckle and dishes out the punishment. Whip and a clothesline lead to Ohtani taking the Flair move to th turnbuckle, but he rolls back inside and backdrops Benoit out of the ring. THat looked great. Ohtani whips out a nasty plancha and rolls Benoit back in for the slingshot spin kick for two. Ohtani finds the grit and determinatin inside him to continue. Canadian backbreaker allows Benoit to retake control. He looks so small and muscled here. Benoit breaks out the rolling german suplexes and bridges for 1,2, no. He takes Ohtani to the top rope and gives him the superplex from the very top, settting up a flying headbutt for two. It looks lke the turnbuckle is lower in NJ than in the WWF. OHtani goes over to the ropes and stumbles, presumably to regain his strength. Benoit tries Dragon suplex, reversal and Ohtani hits it. Unfortunately, he whips around too quickly on it, and loses the bridge, Jericho-style. This makes Elix Skipper's version of the dragon suplex (which he should use as a finisher) all the more impressive. Ohtani tries another dragon suplex, but Benoit fights out of it it and hits the short-arm clothesline out of the corner. Benoit signals for the powerbomb, and fold over on it for two. Ohtani unleashes the I'm-dead-in-the-ropes bit for my viewing pleasure. Benoit drags him out, and suplexes him on the top rope. He tries to the powerbomb off the top, but Ohtani pushes him offand hits the dropkick to the back of the head. Both men down, but Shinjiro has the momentumOHtani tries the Dragon suplex, gets it reversed, and bellty-tobacks Ohtani to the apron. Big mistake, as Ohtani comes in with the Sling Blade DDT (slingshot spike DDT) for the pinfall. Match is too short, but otherwise escellent. ***3/4 Okay, here's what I've been thinking about all match.

For some reason, whenever the best workers in the world face off against each other, they have generally worse matches than with guys they can carry. This is because - and it's less true with Ohtani - the best workers have learned how to dictate the flow and pace of the match so that every match they have follows a predetermined pattern that you might term their style. When Jericho, who is an above-average worker, works a match with someone other than Benoit, he is trying to carry it. Jericho is horrible at doing so in contrast - witness his matches with Angle, where Angle mostly dictated the flow and pace. Well, when Benoit faces Guerrero, it's almost always a bit of a disappointment. They have distinctly different styles, especially now, it often doesn't work. Both try to use the match pace to their own style, and neither dominates.

Thoughts on this and other tragic assertions are accepted at gould41@aol.com.

Back in a few.