WWE - Hard Knocks: the Chris Benoit Story

Extras

-Pegasus Kid vs. Jushin Liger: Very good match to start things off, even after just turning 23 years old Benoit was allready a great talent in the ring and Liger was his usual great self. Nice mixture of pure wrestling skills and high flying action make this a very enjoyable match.
9/10

-Chris Benoit vs. Too Cold Scorpio: OK match from WCW, nothing really great but not to bad either. 6/10

-Wild Pegasus Chris Benoit vs. Black Tiger: This is the earliest match i've ever seen of Eddie Gurrero vs Chris Benoit and just like every other match they've had in the 11 years to follow it delivers the goods.
8/10

-Wild Pegasus Chris Benoit vs. Great Sasuke: This was the Super J Cup Tournament Final in Tokyo Japan and arguably the best Japanese match on the DVD. Theres some truly great high flying spots in this match along with the usual great wrestling skills you get with most Benoit matches. This was my first time seeing a Great Sasuke match and it definitly left me wanting to see more in the future.
9.5/10

-Chris Benoit vs. Sabu- Just a short(1 1/2 odd minutes) brutal match that ends abrutly and shows why Benoit got the name "The Crippler". I won't rank it cause it's just really a peice of wrestling history rather than a full lenth classic match.

-Chris Benoit vs. Al Snow: Nothing great here, a pretty average match that could have easily been replaced by a better match given Benoits vast libary of great matches.
6.5/10

-Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero: Another pretty early matchup of Benoit vs Gurrero from 1995 in WCW. Gurrero is really starting to come into his own by this time and he and Benoit put on another really good match that I really enjoyed. Some great high flying stuff from Eddie here.
8.5/10

-Chris Benoit vs. Kevin Sullivan: Good hardcore match where both guys hammer each other with all kinds of things that takes place from the ring to the bathroom way up in the stands. Nice powerful finish caps off a solid match.
7.5/10

-Chris Benoit vs. Booker T: The final match of the best of 7 these two had back in 1998. It's a good match but probually not the best they've ever had.
7/10

-Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart: Two of the greatest technical crapplers around deliver a technical spectical in this Owen Hart tribute match. The first 10-15 minutes may be a little slow paced for alot of peoples taste but the final 10 or so minutes ends the match strong.
8.5/10

-Chris Benoit vs. Sid Vicious: This WCW title match took place just before Benoit left for WWE, but even though Benoit was'nt happy in WCW he and Sid still put on a solid title match. Sid shows off his impressive power and Benoit shows he can seemingly have a good match with anyone no matter the size.
7.5/10

-Chris Benoit vs. William Regal: Great technical wrestling on display here from the Brian Pillman Tribute Show in 2000. One of the best Regal matches i've seen.
8/10

-Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle: This Steel Cage Match from WWE Raw in 2001 is the greatest cage match i've ever seen and one of my favourite matches ever. Incredible high flying manuvers, really hard bumps and the great wrestling chemistry of Benoit and Angle make this an unforgettable 10 star classic.
10/10

-Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle: The second Angle vs Benoit match on this DVD is the WWE Championship Match from Royal Rumble 2003. Like the cage match this is another classic and that shows why Benoit and Angle are two of the top handful of wrestlers in world.
9.5/10

-Chris Benoit vs. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels: This main event of Wrestlemania 20 is a classic Championship match involving 3 great wrestlers. All 3 guys chip in strongly here and it's great from start to the emotional finish.
9.5/10

-The Neck Injury
-Crossface Collection
-Raw Magazine Cover Shoot
-Few easters eggs

Extras rating:10/10

Overall summary and DVD rating: This DVD may be the best that the WWE has ever put out, it's a must buy for any wrestling fan.
10/10

The matches from Japan can be aired with no commentary, Michael Cole and Tazz doing more of a standard play by play style with some history or Benoit, Dean Malenko and WWE assorted announcer Todd Grisham telling stories and educating people about Japanese professional wrestling which WWE has defintely become more similar to than they were in 1990-1994 when Benoit's matches in Japan took place. They are all stellar and it was cool to see Eddie Gurerro in a mask as Black Tiger, Liger in his prime and the best match of all was with Great Sasuke, and that was the 3rd match of the night for both of them.

Too Cold Scorpio was the only match here that could have been left out and it was still decent. Best watched on mute as Tony Chivoni broadcasting by himself with no colour guy was awful.

The 2 ECW matches are a study in contrast. Sabu lasts just over a minute and the ending will send chills up your spine (literally) while the match with a very lean Al Snow is a spectacular technical display.

In WCW, a young Benoit vs Guerrero but this time no masks. Eddie isn't the lean mean machine but still flies around with spectacular skill. Watch the main feature before watching the match with Kevin Sullivan. It makes what they did together in the ring even more impressive. And I can't belive that nobody in the audience was seriously hurt. Benoit vs Booker T, I wish they had shown what everyone thought was going to be match 7 from Thunder before this match was made but that's just because it would have been cool to see more of Bret and the NWO. This match was stellar, start to finish. The title match vs Sid Vicious was a whole lot better than I expected because I never thought highly of Sid. Seeing the locker room watching from the entranceway was cool too.

The one house show style match was with Regal and it was very cool hearing Tom Prichard talk about how he used this match as a model to his students in OVW. A simply awesome match which I believe won indie match of the year.

The other 3 WWE matches were all simply amazing. There is no official match of the year award but the cage match was a contender in 2001, the 2003 RR was the match of year in many circles and the main event at WMXX will be considered at the end of this year.

The cage match is most known for the headbut and moonsault that Benoit and Angle respectfully, did off the top of the cage. But beyond that there was a great story in the ring, Austin's involvment and beatdown after the match. In additon to all that the highlight of the match for me was the coolest german suplex ever (trust me you'll know it when you see it)

RR 2003: Going in not many people thought Benoit really had a shot as the feud for an eventual Lesanr vs Angle was already in high gear. But anyone who tells you they didn't get caught up in the action of knowing who was going to take home the gold is either a liar or not a wrestling fan. They should have shown the HUGE standing ovation Benoit got after the match but at least you get a taste of it on the main feature.

WMXX: I was very worried about this match when it happened live because usually matches that aren't 1-1 have trouble carrying the crowds attention as a main event. I was thankfully horribly wrong. Its been proclaimed by the WWE as the greatest Wrestlemania main event ever which is not the case (Bret vs Shawn WM12) but it is right up there with Angle vs Lesnar, Rock vs Austin 1 and 2 or Steamboat vs Savage. The end celebration from that match truly did bring both the career and in many ways the personal story of Benoit full circle and after watching this disc you can't help but appreciate it even more if you're a wrestling fan. Especially if you're a Canadian fan like myself who also happens to be a huge fan of skillful technical wrestling. This cost is a bit above normal which is probably due to having to pay for the matches from New Japan pro wrestling but its simply a phenomenal collection. 10/10