wrestling / Columns
My Take On 6.25.07: The Career of Chris Benoit
The following column was written when I came home from work and found out about the death of Chris Benoit and his family. The column was finish and posted before further details and speculations came out and an addendum as been added at the end of the column to reflect that.
He was born Chris Benoit, May 21st 1967 in Montreal Quebec Canada. He lived there until the age of 12, where he moved to Edmonton, Alberta Canada. As a youth, he fell in love with weight lifting, as well as Stampede Wrestling. Bret and Owen Hart, as well as The Dynamite Kid (Tom Billington) were favorites of his, something that is obvious in his in ring work today. He graduated High School in1985, and would make the 185-mile drive south to Calgary (dramatic pause) Alberta to train with the Hart family. After six of the most grueling months of his life, Chris Benoit was ready to step into the ring for Stampede Wrestling. 1986 is when Benoit would taste his first form of success, winning the Stampede International Tag-Team titles for the first of four runs with those belts. After a tag title loss, Benoit took off for Japan and would train in the New Japan Dojo for almost a year. He would return to Stampede, and quickly win the Stampede British-Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight title, the first of four wins of that title. He had a heated feud with former partner Johnny Smith. The two would feud for most of 1988,trading the title several times. Soon after this feud completed in 1989, Benoit left Stampede to broaden his horizons.
He would spend his time in Mexico, as well as Japan. He didn’t wrestle as Chris Benoit though, he went under a masked persona, “The Pegasus Kid.” In Japan he would feud with Jushin “Thunder” Lyger over the IWGP Light Heavyweight Title. He would defeat Lyger for that title and the two engaged in a great feud. Lyger would eventually win back the title, and then the two men would meet in a mask vs. mask match, which Benoit would lose. But in early 1991 he was still The Pegasus Kid, and in Mexico would find success, defeating Villano III for the WWF/UWA Light Heavyweight title. He would have a great 42-minute, 2 of 3 falls defense against Villano III, but in the end would lose the title back to him.
Benoit was starting to gain momentum in his career, and in early 1992 WCW would take notice. Benoit, along with Beef Wellington were brought into WCW to compete in the NWA Tag Title tournament. They quickly lost in the first round, but the company liked what they saw. At Clash of the Champions 19 the team would battle Brian Pillman and Jushin Lyger, and again lost. WCW no longer had interest in Beef, but wanted Benoit to stay. He would get a win over Brad Armstrong at Clash 22, but lose to 2 Cold Scorpio at Superbrawl III in the beginning of 1993. With WCW offering no upward movement, Benoit decided to try other avenues.
He would spit time between ECW and Japan. In 1993, he would win the Top of the Super Juniors Tournament as “Wild Pegasus,” a play off of his former masked persona. 1994 would be the time where Benoit would earn his greatest accomplishment. He was entered into the first ever Super J Cup, he would defeat Black Tiger (Eddie Guerrero) and Gedo on his way to the finals. He would battle The Great Sasuke in what was a superb match, and honestly a match that reminded many of the classic Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid matches from the early 80’s. Benoit would win the match to become the first ever Super J Cup champion.
Chris Benoit would start to work for Extreme Championship Wrestling on a more regular basis now. He had a quick rise, as he put on great matches, and early on earned his crippler nickname, breaking Sabu’s neck early on in a match in a freak accident. He would team with Dean Malenko and capture the ECW Tag Team Titles, and become running buddies with Shane Douglas. After some success, Benoit had to stop working in ECW due to Paul Heyman never getting him a proper work Visa. Benoit was afraid to get caught, which would have resulted in no entrance to the US for up to 7-years. With this news, Benoit once again was off to the land of the rising sun, where he would capture the 1995 Top of the Super Juniors championship. Benoit was now a huge target on the wrestling radar, and WCW came calling again and Benoit answered.
Soon after entering WCW, he was courted by the Four Horsemen of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman. He entered the group and would go into a feud with Kevin Sullivan, that was intense for professional and personal reasons. The two would meet at the 1996 Great American Bash. Benoit would defeat Sullivan in a crazy Falls Count Anywhere match that night. He feuded on and off with Malenko, Jericho, Guerrero, Jarrett and Meng. In 1997, he and Sullivan would feud again, this time in a retirement match at Bash at the Beach, where Benoit would once again win. Benoit seemed to lack direction, as he went from feud to feud and would occasionally sniff the US Title, but could never win. One of these matches was a great triple threat between US Champ DDP and Raven at Uncensored 1998.
With the formation of the n W o, the Horsemen seemed obsolete to WCW management, and were disbanded. In April of 1998 Benoit and Booker T would swap the TV Title at house shows, although the wins of the title aren’t recognized by the official title history. They would engage in a “best of 7” series, which is still highly regarded to this very day. After it ended in controversy, they had a final rubber match at the Great American Bash 1998, where Booker T won. In September of 1998 the Horsemen, Benoit, Malenko, McMichales and Flair with Arn Anderson at their side was reformed. Still with lack of direction, Benoit was finally put into a tag title tournament with Malenko. They would lose, but eventually win the titles from Curt Henning and Barry Windham. After many months in the tag title ranks, and having different partners, Benoit would defeat David Flair, who had turned on his father for the WCW US Title. The Horsemen would again break up, and Benoit would join Shane Douglas, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko to form the Revolution.
In October, in tribute to Owen Hart, Bret hart hand selected Chris Benoit to have a tribute match for Owen. The match, considered classic by many, was won by Hart WCW management was a mess at the time, and the group had little backing. Benoit would add another US and TV Title win to his resume. He would be entered into a tournament for the vacant WCW title and lose in the finals to Bret Hart. The writing was on the wall, and Benoit and many others were discouraged with WCW, and were looking to quit the promotion. At Uncensored 2000, Chris Benoit was put into a title match with WCW Champion Sid Vicious, and won the WCW Title. Benoit was not happy with the “token” win to keep him happy, and handed the belt over and was granted his release. The next night on Nitro, it was made to appear that referee Arm Anderson had made an error, and Vicious was rewarded the title back. Benoit was finished with WCW.
In late January, in Pittsburgh PA Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero invaded Monday Night Raw. They were dubbed the Radicalz and looked to be off to a great start. Unfortunately Guerrero would blow out his elbow doing a frog splash in his first WWE match, and the Radicalz were put into flux. But they seemed to have plans for Benoit, and he went into WM 2000 and won the IC Title in a triple threat against Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle. He and Jericho would battle on and off for the next several months, in 2 of 3 falls and submission matches among others. Benoit would even get shots at the WWF Title against the Rock, and just when it looked as if he would win the big one, something happened and he would come up just short. In the end of 2000, he would defeat Billy Gunn for another IC Title victory.
At the 2001 Royal Rumble, he and Chris Jericho battled yet again, this time in a ladder match. This time Jericho came out on top, and Benoit was again looking for direction. In March he would he would steal Kurt Angle’s gold medals, kicking off their feud. They would face at WM 17, and Angle would sneak out with a victory. They would meet again at Backlash in a 30-Minute Submissions match, where the man with the most submissions won. Benoit would come out of the match the winner this time, cementing his crippler status. They would finish their hat trick at Judgment Day, where they battled in a 2 of 3 falls match, where Angle won. Later in the night, Benoit and old rival Chris Jericho would put their differences aside and enter into a tag team gauntlet match, where they won a shot at the tag titles. This caught the eye of the “Two Man Power Trip” of Austin and HHH who were the champions. They faced the next night on Raw, the match where HHH tore his quad. Benoit and Jericho would win the tag titles, and shoot their focus to Austin and his world title. He would get his shot at the King of the Ring against Jericho and Austin in a triple threat match. Austin would retain pinning Benoit. Benoit executed a superplex, but laid in the ring. It turned out that Benoit had been having severe neck problems and would be out of action for nearly one year.
While he was out, in March of 2002 he was drafted to Smackdown in the first ever draft. But when he returned, he did so to Raw in May, which was in Edmonton. The WWE seemed not sure what to do with Benoit when he returned. He had a series of random turns, that made little to no sense over time. Finally at the end of July, he got a match for the IC Title and defeated Rob Van Dam to win the title. He then jumped to the Smackdown brand, where he originally should have been. He and RVD would have a rematch at Summerslam, and RVD regained the IC Title in that match.
He would slowly work back into a feud with Kurt Angle. They would face at Unforgiven in another outstanding match in which Benoit came out on top. Their feud would add a new dance partner, in Rey Mysterio. The three men had some great matches, and would continue the feud into the Smackdown Tag Title Tournament. Angle and Benoit, reluctant partners would team up and win the tag titles at No Mercy over Rey and Edge. They would then lose the titles to them in just under three weeks later when Benoit and Angle could no longer get along. They would continue to try and make good on the team though, and had a series of good matches with Rey and Edge, as well as Los Guerreros. Angle and Benoit would battle for title shots against each other, but it was Angle that would win a shot and become the new WWE Title.
At the Royal Rumble 2003, Angle and Benoit would face again, this time the 2-men put on a true mat classic where Angle came out on top, but Benoit walked away with a standing ovation and possibly a new respect from his fans; but not the title. He would continue to try and get at Angle, and at No Way Out Benoit and Lesnar would defeat Kurt Angle & Team Angle in a handicap match. With Lesnar the #1 contender, Benoit teamed up with Rhyno for a shot at the tag titles at WM 19. They came up short in a triple threat, as Los Guerreros retained their titles. For the rest of the year, Benoit played the “close, but not close enough” role while trying to get a shot at the title. Finally in December of 2003, Benoit would get another shot at Brock Lesnar and the WWE Title, but was unable to win the match.
Benoit would set his sights on the Royal Rumble, and when he qualified for entry, Paul Heyman declared that he would be the #1 entrant into the match. After surviving many setups by Heyman, Benoit made it to the Rumble. Chris Benoit would go over one hour, finally eliminating the Big Show to win the Royal Rumble, and earn another shot at the gold.
With Chris Benoit winning the 2004 Royal Rumble, everyone expected him to be challenging Brock Lesnar at WM XX, but Benoit had other ideas. The next night on Raw as HHH and HBK argued, Benoit appeared even though he wasn’t part of Raw. As winner of the Rumble he was able to choose which champion he wanted to face, and he chose HHH. HBK wasn’t happy, and the wheels were set in motion for a triple threat at WM XX. On his way their, Benoit defeated Mark Henry, Ric Flair, Matt Hardy and Batista as he battled off HBK and HHH just to survive and get his shot at WM XX. Chris Benoit would walk out of WM XX with the World Title, making HHH tap as he, HHH and HBK put on one of WrestleMania’s all-time greatest matches. His 18-year Odyssey to become the pinnacle of the sport he so loved was complete. The next month at Backlash the three would meet again, and Benoit would make HBK tap out this time. He walked out champion again, and firmly established as the man.
The night after Backlash, Benoit teamed with Edge to defeat Ric Flair and Batista for the World Tag Team Titles. Now a double champion, Benoit would defend both titles for a month, until La Resistance defeated them for the titles. Benoit would have successful title defenses against Kane and HHH; including a great 60-minute Iron Man Match on Raw. At Summerslam 2004, Benoit would lose the title to Randy Orton after nearly 6-months. Benoit challenged Orton the next night for the title again, but Evolution stopped Benoit from winning back his gold.
Benoit would get another shot, sort of, at Taboo Tuesday. The fans were to vote on who gets the title shot, but HBK won that vote so Benoit and Edge would get a shot at the Tag Team Titles. Benoit would defeat La Resistance. I say Benoit because Edge walked out on him. This would lead to trouble, and eventually they would lose the titles back to La Resistance when Edge wouldn’t tag in, and he then attacked Benoit after the match. At Survivor Series, Benoit was part of a match for control of Raw, and his team won. The week he got to be GM, November 22, 2004 on Raw, he challenged HHH to a steel cage match for the World Title. HHH and Evolution staged that HHH got beat down, and Benoit instead had to face Edge, who he defeated. After the match, HHH and Evolution beat down Benoit.
November 29th, 2004 on Raw was a crazy night. Edge and Benoit both won a contenders battle royal and were deemed “Co-#1 Contenders” for HHH’s title. When they both faced off with HHH later that night in a triple threat match, HHH was pulled from the ring by Randy Orton and taken out of the match. Edge and Benoit pinned each other at the same time, and the only thing that was for sure when Raw ended was that HHH wasn’t champion anymore. The title would in fact be held up and at New Year’s Revolution be up for grabs in an Elimination Chamber match. Benoit would be placed into that match, but again would come up short. As the New Year started, Benoit started looking towards WM XXI, and at that event, he would get a chance to win a guaranteed shot at the World Title. Money in the Bank was the name, Benoit, Jericho, Benjamin, Edge, Christian and Kane. Six men all in a ladder match for a shot, a shot that could be used anytime at a shot at the World Title. Benoit came very close to winning the match, but Edge took advantage of his injured shoulder, hit him with a chair and went on to win the match, leaving Benoit on the outside looking in again.
The next night on Raw, an injured Benoit challenged Edge. Even with the injured arm, Benoit would get the win over the new “Mr. Money in the Bank.” This would set in motion violent attacks from Edge, and they would meet at Backlash in a “last man standing” match. Edge would win, but only after knocking out Chris Benoit with a brick. After Backlash, he was placed into the “Gold Rush” Tournament. He would defeat HHH in the first round, but lose to Kane in round 2. After this, Benoit’s attention went to Nostalgia and ECW. He was part of the crew that defied Bishoff and wanted to work the “rumored” ECW PPV. He would appear on that PPV, and defeat Eddie Guerrero. Just prior to the PPV, on June 9th he was drafted to the Smackdown Brand as their first pick.
With new life beginning on Smackdown he would feud with JBL and his cabinet. At Summerslam 2005 he would defeat Orlando Jordan in seconds to win the US Title. This would become a running joke as Benoit would continually beat him quicker, and drink coffee to replays of him beating OJ so fast. Benoit would move onto feud with an old nemesis from WCW, Booker T. The two had engaged in a tremendous best of 7 series in WCW, and they found their ways to each other again. They would feud again and one week after the death of Eddie Guerrero, there would be a disputed finish in their title match, and we were about to revisit history and engage in another best of 7 series. Unfortunately this version could not live up to the initial series due to an Injury to Booker T, but they did deliver a tremendous match at Armageddon 2005.
2006 began as he finished up the series against Orton, in place of Booker, and then it was onto the Royal Rumble 2006. Benoit had another great showing in the match and had people believing that he could do it again. He eventually earned another shot at Booker T at No Way Out 2006, where he regained his US Title. Benoit would start having great TV matches against old WCW rivals Fit Finlay and William Regal around thing time, but it was the solo JBL that would be the next feud. JBL was a real American Hero he constantly stated and wanted the US Title for himself. They battled all the way to WrestleMania, and it was there that JBL cheated his way to the US Title. Benoit was not finished with JBL, and they would rematch it on Smackdown in the confines of a steel cage, but once again JBL; with the help of Jillian Hall, managed to walk away with the title. Benoit would have some great matches with Finlay before being “injured” by Mark Henry on May 26th.
Benoit took time off to tend to his wife Nancy, who had some neck surgery. Also, Benoit had been asking for time to heal up from injuries, which had built up over the years. But he would make his surprise return on October 8th 2006 at the No Mercy PPV, where he and William Regal put on a classic. Just a few short days later Benoit would recapture his US Title from “Mr. Kennedy” and he was back on track. He would close out 2006 feuding with Chavo Guerrero over the US Title.
After dealing with Chavo Guerrero, Benoit’s next challenge was the young upstart “MVP.” These men would feud from January to May, with Benoit always winning the important matches, but MVP sneaking a victory hear and there to keep in the hunt. At the Judgment Day PPV in late May, MVP would finally defeat Chris Benoit for the US Title, also earning an in ring education along the way. On June 11th Chris Benoit had a homecoming of sorts, as he was drafted to ECW, the company he started with in North America. He defeated Elijah Burke on June 19th to earn a shot at the vacant ECW World Title. He was to Face CM Punk at Vengeance 2007, but it was announced that Benoit had to return home due to “personal issues” and was replaced by Johnny Nitro on the show. Nitro proved to be no replacement as the crowd chanted loudly, “WE WANT BENOIT…WE WANT BENOIT…WE WANT BENOIT…”
I got home at 9pm on Monday June 25th 2007, and had this in an email waiting for me… World Wrestling Entertainment canceled Monday night’s live show from the American Bank Center after wrestler Chris Benoit and his family were found dead in their home. According to the WWE web site “There are no further details at this time, other than the Benoit family residence is currently being investigated by local authorities.” Benoit, originally from Edmonton, had a home in the Atlanta area, where he had wrestled in the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling before joining the WWE. In all honesty when I read this I was devastated. It sounds lame to some, but when you invest the better part of 20-years watching someone perform you grow an attachment to them. And not only do I feel this loss as a fan, but also as a family man. I am a father and I have a wife and a 5-year old daughter. I can’t imagine losing them or how my loved ones would feel if they lost us. This is nothing short of tragic.
When all is said and done regarding his career, the placement of Chris Benoit will be greatly argued in the grand scheme of wrestling history. Benoit has traveled the world, worked all styles and excelled far beyond anyone’s expectations. He dominated the “Junior Heavyweight” part of his career, and made a successful change to the heavyweight division. You never hear people complain about the “bad Chris Benoit” match they saw, but you always wonder why he hadn’t accomplished more. His life is one hell of a story, and while he didn’t draw the most money or win the most world titles, when you think about skill as a wrestler, not many people come ahead of Chris Benoit. You hear the phrase in boxing a lot, but as far as “wrestling” goes, he may be pound for pound the best of all time.
I cannot express my sympathies enough to the family, friends and fans of Chris, Nancy and Daniel. There are many rumors going around about the deaths, and I am not going to speculate on them here. I am here to remember his career as I remember it. Anything else will be discussed when there is concrete proof announced by the police next week in the news column. Rest in Peace all of you.
Addendum: Word right now is that they are considering this a murder suicide. If that is true, it is odd, because Steve Cook and I discussed this last night. When he asked me what I thought happened, I said, ” I hope I am wrong, but maybe he killed his wife and kid…and then himself.” When he asked me why I stated this, this is what I said:
First of all I am not blaming WWE for this. Not at all. Maybe, maybe Chris Benoit snapped. Maybe he was depressed, on painkillers and decided that life sucked, and that he would take his family with him. I don’t know for sure, no one does and we probably will never know. The fact is what I wrote was a tribute to his CAREER. Something I felt I had to do. I also think that is what the WWE did. Maybe they were a bit sketchy on the details, maybe they heard news before we did. It was odd that they didn’t have the fans in the building and do a tribute show ala Eddie or Owen, maybe because of the Vince angle, and maybe because they feared the worst. Maybe they feared backlash if the story came out as it did, but maybe they wanted to just pay tribute to a great career because they were afraid if what was going to come out and how people would remember him. Did you notice William Regal’s tribute video, where he seems very careful to mention how great a wrestler Benoit was, but nothing personal? Odd for someone that is a close friend. Edge’s line about, “I just don’t understand things like this” is another one that echoes in my head after the fact.
While many want this column taken down, I won’t do that. At the time I thought a career retrospective was in order, as I had been very entertained by Chris Benoit over the years. I am not saying he is a hero and never claimed that. Reports are still coming in, there is nothing definite, but things are leaning towards the worst. Call him a coward, judge him if you must, but as I said, I will not. I don’t want to get into the morality of what has happened, because it is not for me to judge. It is said Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. With that in mind and what I know, I won’t cast personal judgment. I hate this, I think it is beyond horrible that his wife and child were the victims, but before you decide to burn all of your Chris Benoit DVD’s and shirts, sit back and think. That’s all I want to add to this, keep the hate mail coming if you must, if it helps I am here to be a sounding board, but know this, in no way am I trying to glorify murder, especially of a child. In the end I am speculationg, no one knows right now. The sad thing is that three people are dead.
