This is a touchy topic as the title states, but it doesn’t intimidate me. Instead, it gives me incentive to talk about it. I feel that Chris Benoit is one of the most underappreciated pure wrestlers in the history of the wrestling industry, and it’s a shame that he is not talked about more.
With that being said, it is more than justifiable as to the reason no one talks about him. A murderer cannot be glorified, even if it was partially because of repeated head trauma, which is why I’m just going to stick to his wrestling career.
Benoit made his name in NJPW (New Japan Pro Wrestling) first starting in 1986 and gaining valuable experience before heading to ECW with Paul Heyman. He earned the nickname “The Crippler” after a match with Sabu in which Sabu was nearly paralyzed. He departed ECW just before Heyman was about to strap the ECW World Heavyweight Championship on him when his work visa expired.
Starting in 1995, Benoit signed for a second time with WCW (World Championship Wrestling). It got somewhat dicey with the main booker for WCW, Kevin Sullivan, because Benoit developed a real-life affair with Sullivan’s wife in a storyline. Even when Benoit ultimately left the company in 2000, they did not really want him to go. They even tried putting the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on him, but due to disagreements with management and to protest the promotion of Kevin Sullivan to head booker, Benoit left the next day along with Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn to debut with WWF/E as the Radicalz later in the year 2000. He received major Title matches during the early part of his WWE tenure, but the feud he is most known for during this time was the feud with Chris Jericho.
He ultimately needed to take a year off due to his broken neck. The highlight of his career clearly came into 2004 when he won the World Heavyweight Championship after winning the Royal Rumble as the number one entrant. He would hold the title until SummerSlam, Losing it to Randy Orton. The final Title Benoit would win in his illustrious wrestling career was the United States Championship. He was scheduled to win the resurrected ECW World Heavyweight Championship on the night of his death, but Johnny Nitro (who later became John Morrison) was inserted in his place.
It’s unfortunate that one of the top 5 or 10 pure wrestlers in history is never discussed. As I said earlier, it’s more than understood and fully justified as to the reason why, I personally wanted to write an article and tribute to him on my blog. I’m very appreciative to have been exposed to his wrestling style thanks to the WWE network, because without it I would’ve never seen him since I was a little young when he was at the top.