Chris Jericho Recalls Classic WWE Tag Match With Chris Benoit and Triple H Injury
AEW star Chris Jericho recently detailed the intense emotional highs and devastating professional lows of a classic May 21, 2001, WWE Raw tag team match where he and Chris Benoit captured the WWE Tag Team Titles from Steve Austin and Triple H, an all-time classic whose legacy remains permanently altered by subsequent tragedy.
The Anatomy of a High-Stakes Championship Match
On the May 21 episode of Raw, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit squared off against the pairing of Steve Austin and Triple H. According to comments made by Jericho during an appearance on Wrestling Observer Radio, the atmosphere inside the arena was electric, delivering an unbelievable audience reaction and a closing sequence that was explicitly engineered to launch major singles programs afterward.
The original creative direction called for Steve Austin to pair off with Chris Benoit for the title, while Jericho was slated to transition into a program with Triple H. Both pairings boasted proven tactical chemistry. Jericho noted previous standout encounters with Triple H, including a Last Man Standing match in Dallas and a championship victory in State College, Pennsylvania, where he beat him for the belt and had to give it back.
The Injury That Shook the Creative Blueprint
The trajectory of the entire night fractured when Triple H suffered a quadriceps tear. Despite the injury, Triple H insisted on finishing the match, executing the closing spots and absorbing the Walls of Jericho on the announce table.
The severity of the injury immediately derailed the company’s long-term booking strategy. As Jericho recalled, the night plummeted from an unbelievable career peak into instant professional deflation:
His injury meant the evening and its special moment were completely spoiled, forcing a sudden and total overhaul of plans. That shift created a three-way dynamic with Chris and I teaming against Steve playing the villain, which caused the whole direction to unravel from that point forward.
Instead of the planned singles programs, the promotion was forced to change course.
Navigating a Complicated Legacy in Wrestling History
Reporting via Ringside News highlights Jericho’s candid assessment of how Chris Benoit’s 2007 murder-suicide permanently tainted any retrospective viewing of their shared in-ring accomplishments. Jericho acknowledged that while the May 21 bout stands out as an all-timer for him, it is now “lost in time” because the athletic achievements can never be realistically separated from subsequent events.
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