I am all in for this Benoit push. This was only three minutes but worked high impact and spirited. Benoit bumps well off of Rikishi’s neckbreaker and back heel kick. The biggest news though is that Benoit hits a Northern Lights suplex and pins Rikishi right there clean as a sheet. Wow. They are really working to make Benoit look like a big deal and it is paying dividends so far. **

Short, decisive and absolutely an upset based on their relative positioning at the time. Rikishi gets his heat back, which I think is fine considering he was at this point their number two babyface and Benoit's push is still going strong.

The two combatants are nose to nose, Rikishi block a right and decks ‘the Crippler’ with one of his own. He levels him with a clothesline before whipping him into the ropes. Benoit counters the backdrop with a sunset flip, however he’s not able to take Rikishi down and only just avoids being squashed by a sit down splash. A dropkick to the back of the seated Samoan, followed by repeated kicks and stomps to the mid-section. ‘The Crippler’s’ chops have no effect other than firing Rikishi up, and he hits an ‘Ace Crusher’ (which Michael Cole calls a neckbreaker) which he doesn’t quite get all of. After whipping Benoit chest first into the turnbuckles, a thrust kick to the back of the head. He goes for the splash in the corner, but Benoit sidesteps out the way and a Northern Lights suplex for the three. Rikishi gets the better of the post-match, as when ‘the Crippler’ charges him, he lays him out with a Samoan drop, gives him the stinkface and then a ‘Banzai splash’.

 

Rikishi had a knee brace on his knee so I wondered if he was injured or whether it was just a case of continuing to push Benoit up to the main event level. This felt even quicker than the victory he had over Tazz, and over a guy like Rikishi who’s one of the top faces in the company at this point. The Northern Lights was as cool as hell to do it on a guy his size, but the crowd seemed as shocked as me that it was the finish. The post-match was all about making Rikishi look strong and getting him his heat back.

Crazy short. I would have preferred a longer match between the two especially since RIkishi did all his signature stuff after the bout was over.