#2 Chris Benoit vs Ric Flair – 9th Feb 2004
Chris Benoit would win the 2004 Royal Rumble and earn an opportunity at the World’s title. The No. 1 contender was expected to challenge his Champion on SmackDown – the WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, but Benoit decided to jump ship to Raw and challenge the World Heavyweight Champion Triple H.
This put Benoit right in the middle of the ongoing feud between Triple H and Shawn Michaels and also at loggerheads with Triple H’s Evolution stablemate Ric Flair. On 9th February 2004, the new Raw Superstar Benoit would face Flair just before he was expected to sign his World title contract with the Game.
Flair and Benoit would have a classic match, which ended with the Nature Boy tapping out to Benoit’s signature Crippler Cross face, but the aftermath of the match would be even more interesting.
Shawn Michaels would interrupt Benoit’s contract signing and deliver a Sweet Chin Music to the Canadian. Michaels would sign the contract himself, planting the seeds for the first ever Triple threat World title match at Wrestlemania against Benoit and Triple H.
