Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Match # 103: Chris Benoit vs. Fit Finlay (Nitro 6/15/98)

I feel like I’m in a time warp by this point, seeing more Benoit than I’ve seen since the man went crazy in June ’07. Nice to see a varied opponent from Booker. Fit Finlay should make for an excellent match up as we’ve hit a hot streak of Nitro matches in ’98.

This match has the benefit of a very vocal Long Island, NY crowd that gets on Finlay heavy right away. Finlay plays an excellent heel here, complete with selling the crowd chants, begging off, and eye pokes. Crowd is more against Finlay than for Benoit, but they do love their chops. Finlay cheats and Benoit comes back with stiff offense. Simple formula. They had a commercial break in the middle of this. Bummer.

Into the last third of the match Benoit comes back with two German suplexes, but they both sell as he doesn’t get a third. He misses the diving head butt and the crowd chants “USA” to amuse themselves. Cute. Both guys really go all out, with Benoit refusing to lose. He reverses a pile driver into the cross face for the tap out win in about 11:30. In a lot of ways I liked this more than the Booker T-Benoit matches on this disk. A good heel-face dynamic with an engaged crowd and a natural flow. 3 ½ and 7.2/10.