Orton vs Benoit, Summeslam 2004

[Perfect Timing]

I watched this back for the first time in awhile and thought this was amazing. A lot better than the PPV matches you see today. The pacing was perfect, the match was how I remembered but the finish still shocked me as I forgot it only took Orton one RKO. Randy Orton really deserved the title even though his face turn after didn't really do anything for him. The match doesn't drag even though it's slow paced. Everything today is too damn fast.

[blake6905]

Too fast paced and not enough story telling.. It's all about "let's get all these big moves in and kick out"

For once I would like to see Ambrose win with that off the ropes clothesline, or AJ win with the Pele

[Medicinal Thunder Liger]

Excellent match, Benoit did a great job of making Orton look like a million bucks. probably my favorite PPV match that year along with the WMXX main event.

[魔界5号]

Benoit put him over huge. He earned his stripes at Backlash against Cactus, but that match made Orton a star, IMO.

[Deleted]

I was there live. You would assume it was a babyface vs. Babyface match. The only thing I hated was Ortons weird tanned pink tights

[Perfect Timing]

The handshake at the end was touching.

[Instant Classic]

One of the best title match victories ever.

[thecrusherwi]

I don't know if I've seen that match since it was live but I remember liking it. I wish more guys would get a proper first title win like this rather than the Money in the Bank bullshit that's stolen so many of these moments in recent years.

[HMARK Center]

I remember being bugged by that match...well, not by the match itself (though I was never an Orton fan so I wasn't gung ho about him winning), but by the utter lack of build.

The big buildup going into that show was freaking Triple H vs. Eugene, which led to nothing and reemphasized how little focus Benoit got as champion throughout 2004. This really was the icing on the cake, though: Orton won a #1 contender's battle royal just two weeks, I believe, before SummerSlam, and that was the extent of it. Just so underwhelming when they were aiming to make Orton a top star, and, again, another reminder that Benoit was never going to be taken seriously as champion.

[Deleted]

HHH beating Orton a month later at Unforgiven was pretty much the point when I stopped watching regularly until 2011.

[DjZonk]

I remember thinking Orton's reign would be doomed due to the weird colour tights he chose to wear. I was proved completely correct.

[Hanzo]

Sorry to go off topic, but I wonder why Edge got booed that night? Summerslam 2004 was in Toronto and that's his home town.

[GuyOfOwnage]

May 8, 2016 15:52:14 GMT -5 Hanzo said:

Sorry to go off topic, but I wonder why Edge got booed that night? Summerslam 2004 was in Toronto and that's his home town.

He'd been doing the same bland babyface act since 2001, and people were tired of it.

[lebuddha]

May 8, 2016 10:18:26 GMT -5 Perfect Timing said:

I watched this back for the first time in awhile and thought this was amazing. A lot better than the PPV matches you see today. The pacing was perfect, the match was how I remembered but the finish still shocked me as I forgot it only took Orton one RKO.

I don't think anyone kicked out of the RKO until WM21 where he fought Undertaker?

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

May 8, 2016 15:52:14 GMT -5 Hanzo said:

Sorry to go off topic, but I wonder why Edge got booed that night? Summerslam 2004 was in Toronto and that's his home town.

Edge was so ridiculously stale as a brooding, silent babyface badass. It was like all the personality he showed from his Edge and Christian days and his singles run on Smackdown had disappeared when he returned to Raw, and was replaced with Roidy McGoo muscles. The Toronto crowd knew it, and he was in a triple threat match with Jericho who could match him on fellow Canadian pops, and Batista who was a far more interesting character.

[Neo: "The One" who CLAPS]

I watched this PPV as a young mark, and I remember my friends and I went outside to play catch or something instead of watching this match, because we were so certain that Benoit would win. I remember thinking that there was no way Benoit would lose, he was able to keep up with and defeat HHH, how could Orton, who while talented, had just lost his title to Edge, hope to keep up with him?

Imagine how shocked I was when I came back inside and asked my dad who won. He replied, "Orton". I thought he was joking.

Back on topic, the match was awesome, and it's too bad that HHH destroyed that title victory the next month.

[Deleted]

It's easy to forgot with how he turned out but Chris Benoit was a fantastic wrestler and he always would do the smallest things that nobody does today that makes his matches so much better.

[Renslayer]

May 8, 2016 14:59:01 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

I remember being bugged by that match...well, not by the match itself (though I was never an Orton fan so I wasn't gung ho about him winning), but by the utter lack of build.

The big buildup going into that show was freaking Triple H vs. Eugene, which led to nothing and reemphasized how little focus Benoit got as champion throughout 2004. This really was the icing on the cake, though: Orton won a #1 contender's battle royal just two weeks, I believe, before SummerSlam, and that was the extent of it. Just so underwhelming when they were aiming to make Orton a top star, and, again, another reminder that Benoit was never going to be taken seriously as champion.

After Backlash, they really had no one for Benoit. Poor guy got saddled with Kane while HHH/Michaels wasted all of our times with their never ending feud & one of the most boring Hell in a Cell matches I've ever seen. If they played their cards right, they could've had Orton's title win mean so much more than it did. Of course, they would've helped themselves more if they didn't screw up everything related to Orton following that match too.

[Ragnal]

Too bad this ruins a lot of Orton's documentaries because they can't quite talk about the match itself. >_>

In all seriousness the match was great, but the next month of programming almost made it feel like they were intentionally killing off any momentum Orton had gotten out of it. Kicking him out of Evolution, turning him face, having it all lead up to Triple H being champion AGAIN when he didn't need the damn title...it's no wonder it took them three years to get the belt back on the guy.

[Perfect Timing]

May 8, 2016 17:19:58 GMT -5 GuyOfOwnage said:

May 8, 2016 15:52:14 GMT -5 Hanzo said:

Sorry to go off topic, but I wonder why Edge got booed that night? Summerslam 2004 was in Toronto and that's his home town.

He'd been doing the same bland babyface act since 2001, and people were tired of it.

I'm more surprised it took them so long. I was sick of his face run around 2002 and couldn't stand his Rob Zombie theme. As soon as he showed even the slightest hint of a heel turn in 2004 he was entertaining again. He struck gold with his "me me me" paranoid act.