The effect of initial rotational states in the reaction of antisymmetric-excited CH4(v(3)=1,ljNl >) with Cl atom was investigated in a crossed -beam, product -imaging experiment over the collisional energy (E-c) range of 2-5 kcal mol(-1). We found that while the initial rotational excitations exert a noticeable effect on total reactivity, they leave little imprint on the more detailed product -state and angular distributions. This finding echoes the previous conclusion in the analogous Cl + CHD3(v(1)=1,1 NK >) reaction. However, the rotational enhancement factor is substantial at low E-c and then becomes insignificant at higher E-c in contrast to the Cl + CHD3 case. A more intriguing finding is the role of the vibrational angular momentum (l) in promoting the reactivity. A heuristic picture is proposed to rationalize the observations.