With the annual No Way Out PPV coming up this month, I thought I’d put together a column of ‘lost’ matches from previous No Way Out PPVs (1998-2007) that you might not have heard of. The first No Way Out was held in 1998, and the show has since earned a reputation as the prelude to WrestleMania, notching up several area shows and a handful of genuine classics (see Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle from 2006, and HHH vs. Steve Austin from 2001) along the way. However, this column is not about those matches, rather the forgotten gems of matches which occurred on the undercard….

From 1998 we have TAKA Michinoku vs. Pantera. WWF at this point had a great main event scene work rate wise, with a pretty poor selection of undercard talent, something which proved the opposite for WCW (at least in terms of work rate), with the N W O 40+ club consistently overshadowing the cruiser division.

WWF had had a chance to change this, with hiring of TAKA in the summer of 1997, but instead of hiring natural opponent the Great Sasuke, for anything more than a two shot deal, they instead mired the potentially exciting new Light Heavyweight division with the likes of Scott Putski and Brian Christopher. Bringing in veteran Luchador Pantera to face Michinoku provided a great little match that was comparable with WCW’s output at the time; unfortunately Pantera had just one more WWF PPV appearance (at WrestleMania XIV), and WWF would further waste their fledgling division’s potential by hiring Kaientai and jobbing them to the useless Oddities at Summerslam.

From 2000 we have Edge and Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz. While their numerous gimmick matches are rightly seen as the highlight of their series, the two teams were both also able to put on stonking straight up matches, as this one shows. Featuring tons of innovative and dangerous looking manoeuvres (especially for 2000 WWF), this match showed that the two young combos were simply on another level above current Tag Title holders the New Age Outlaws, and provided a precursor to the year long conflict that would soon occur. This match is also notable for Jeff characteristically nearly breaking his neck on a number of occasions, especially in the post match APA run in where Farooq gets a little over enthusiastic with the dominator (ouch!).

From 2001, a show stacked with great matches, we’ve got Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho vs. X Pac. This one was an absolute sprint of a match from four very talented workers (and yes I include Waltman, who here had one of his best showings since 1999, and would go on to have an underrated 2001). Jericho was defending IC Champion at the time and had issues with both Benoit and Guerrero, who themselves had an internal storyline of dissension within the Radicals throughout this match. X Pac really had something to prove after virtually being branded a has-been by Edge in late 2000, Guerrero was just coming back from an injury and looked good, despite apparently being totally wasted, and Benoit was his usual dependable self. This showed what the WWF midcard was capable of and really elevated all involved.

From 2002, a match that was initially hated by many was Rob Van Dam vs. Goldust. This was a total clash of styles but somehow ended up really working. Goldust had being thought washed up by many following his awful last WCW run, but returned at the Rumble having lost a load of weight and with a renewed enthusiasm. His 2002-03 run would be a career high for the Goldust character, and he really rises to the occasion here.

Rob Van Dam, despite being moved from the main event scene, was still one of the most over faces in the company and was having good matches with just about everyone. One of the things I have noticed with RVD is that his game is really elevated when he is put against someone who can take his potentially hard hitting offence – see his match vs. Benoit at Summerslam 2002 – and on this occasion, Goldust somewhat surprisingly shows that he can give and take stiff offence. Seriously, put aside anything you might have heard about this match and go and watch it, it really is that good!

2003’s No Way Out really wasn’t that good of a show. That being said there were a few decent bits, most notably Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy. This was during what has since been seen as Hardy’s low point, he was just weeks from being fired, and he was very inconsistent match wise. This match, however, must have been on a good night, as Jericho brings out the best in Jeff, producing what was probably his best singles match to that point, crammed with great spots, including a top rope powerbomb, and helped along the way by the strange Montreal crowd. Also notable for the post match appearance of every Canadian’s favourite Shawn Michaels…

Chavo Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio is my pick from 2004. These two have had a number of matches on PPV, and to me, this is the best of the bunch. Chavo had recently turned heel, but had also had any possible momentum taken from him by the red hot Eddie Guerrero in a virtual squash at the Rumble. WWE countered this by introducing Chavo Sr. as his son’s manager, and putting the belt on him at this PPV. For a WWE style Cruiserweight match, this is as about as good as you’re going to get. Both men had clear characters that the audience were into, and Chavo Sr., at this point, was not overshadowing what was going on in the ring. The boxer (Jorge Paez?) who was in Mysterio’s corner, also played out his role to perfection, with the one big spot that he did being placed perfectly in the match in terms of timing…

No Way Out in 2005 had Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio vs. The Basham Brothers. As you would probably expect, Mysterio and Guerrero were naturals as both opponents and as partners, and this match showcased both of their individual characters as well as their potential as a tag team. For my money, this is also the best match that I’ve seen from the Bashams as a team. What really stands out in this match is the character of Guerrero, it’s really on a plateau above everything else in the WWE at this point, and Eddie was the most part of Smackdown, despite having being relegated to the midcard following his 2004 main event run. Guerrero’s popularity here, makes the decision to turn him a couple of months later seem to be particularly odd, although you can’t fault Guerrero, who really made the character just as effective as his babyface one…

From 2006 we’ve got Bobby Lashley vs. JBL. Whatever you might think about JBL, you can’t fault his unselfish nature in the ring when it comes to putting people over. At the Royal Rumble in 2006 he lost to the Boogeyman in a virtual comedy squash, and here, he really put over ultra green Bobby Lashley before berating him by nefarious means. Lashley chucked Bradshaw all over the place in this match, including busting him open hard way over the eye with a nasty suplex and generally looked like an absolute beast – exactly what the booking of the match wanted to accomplish. This is also notable for the Finlay Lashley brawl that occurs before the start of the match, a worthy predecessor to their awesome feud that kicked off later in the year,

MVP and MnM vs. The Hardy Boyz and Chris Benoit is my pick from 2007. Up until this point MVP had been a virtual joke in WWE, losing a humdrum series to Kane, and generally not doing much at all. While most say that he really started to shine through at WrestleMania XXIII, this match, with his first encounter with Benoit, showed flashes of what he would evolve into later in the year. Watching this match shortly after viewing 2000’s choice, I can also see just how much both Hardys came on as workers in the middle seven years, as well as seeing what a great team we had with Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury. It goes without saying that Benoit more than pulled his weight here, further reinforcing the theory that the troubled crippler really buried his head in his work, so to speak, in his last months. Just a great match in which four out of five players have gone on to be major forces in the WWE in the following years…

Of course with the advent of the Elimination Chamber match becoming the dominant theme of the PPV from 2008, a lot of potential matches have been ditched to allow the big players to participate in the big gimmick matches. I’m sure that we’ll get more of the same at this year’s PPV, which will be bound to have some decent stuff on it…

James Mustoe
james@ifight365.com