Today’s Sports Throwback Thursday will be about WWE’s Armageddon 2005. The pay-per-view event featured great matchups such as Chris Benoit vs. Booker T and Randy Orton vs. The Undertaker.
Chris Benoit vs. Booker T rivalry had a nice and slow build-up. The consistency of the writing is on point. Before they became rivals, they were solid tag team partners and worked well as a team. They had each other’s back when one of them would get attacked or outnumbered. Things began to change when Booker T’s wife, Sharmell, would interfere and distract opponents during the matches. Booker T would take advantage of those distractions to come away with a victory. It went too far when Sharmell interfered during the Benoit and Booker T match for the United States championship. Sharmell gave Benoit a low blow, which allowed Booker T to connect with the Scissors kick and capture the US championship.
Booker T thought about giving Benoit a rematch for the title in an episode of Smackdown, but he fooled everyone when he betrayed Benoit and became a villain. Once friends now became enemies.
Walking into Armageddon, Benoit trailed Booker T 3-0 in the best of 7 matchups. He was one loss away from being swept. During the match, both wrestlers performed efficiently. Booker T did all he could to win. Sharmell tried to help out again, but it didn’t work this time. Benoit got Booker T in the crippler-crossface and made Booker T tapped out.
The main event of Armageddon happened to be Randy Orton vs. Undertaker. It’s one of my favorite rivalries of 2005. Orton is a young talent known for his nickname “The Legend Killer.” The stipulation of the match was “Hell in a Cell.” Undertaker beat Orton at WrestleMania, and Orton beat Taker in Summerslam. Bob Orton, Randy’s father, interfered, but the Undertaker nailed him and performed a tombstone on him. One of the strangest moments of the match is when Randy Orton performs a tombstone on The Undertaker. It was risky because he could’ve messed up the tombstone and could’ve hurt the Undertaker. If you look at the match, Orton struggles while having Taker on a tombstone. Taker would kick out of the tombstone, and sooner or later, he gave Randy Orton a tombstone to win the match and end their rivalry.