Chris Benoit: Difference between revisions

For the next few years, Benoit would go on to win fans over with his in-ring work, but would never break through to the main event level until [[Vince Russo]] and Ed Ferrara came into WCW in 1999 during the [[Monday Night Wars]]; however, when the two were suspended and Kevin Sullivan was placed back on the booking team, Benoit and a number of other wrestlers revolted and delivered an ultimatum to management: he goes, or we go. To attempt to appease this group of wrestlers, Benoit was booked to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at ''Souled Out 2000''. This was not enough to please them, however, and Benoit - along with [[Eddie Guerrero]], Perry Saturn, and Dean Malenko - were granted their releases after the event.

 

 

The next four years saw Benoit slowly built up into a main event caliber wrestler, producing classic matches with the likes of [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]], [[Kurt Angle]], [[Eddie Guerrero]], and [[Edge]]. His time on ''SmackDown's'' tag division in 2002 resulted in the classic trio of teams known as the "SmackDown Six"; teaming with [[Kurt Angle]], Benoit would face the team of [[Edge]] and [[Rey Mysterio, Jr.]] at ''No Mercy 2002'' in what was easily a Match of the Year candidate and arguably one of the greatest tag team matches ever.

** He would briefly seem to be on both ends of this trope, as soon afterward Davey Richards wore tights instead of trunks, cut his hair and adopted a more technical style, complete with similar moves. However, apparently it was actually Dynamite Kid (thus bypassing Benoit) that Richards was modeled after.

* [[Breakup Breakout]]: Benoit (and [[Eddie Guerrero]]) following the breakup of the Radicalz.

** In an interview with ''WWE Magazine'' in 2009, [[Vince McMahon]] stated that he took the O.J. Simpson approach when it comes to mentioning Benoit: it's not okay to promote him, but they can't ignore his accomplishments.

* [[Catch Phrase]]: Surprisingly enough, Benoit never had any; his mic skills weren't exactly stellar, so he let his in-ring work do the talking.

** He ran with the line of challenging others to prove him wrong, though.

** In 2004, he began declaring that he was "for real" (his tights and t-shirts would render it as "[[Xtreme Kool Letterz|4-REAL]]").

* [[Curse]]: Some like to point out the fact that in one storyline in one of the Smackdown Vs. Raw games, [[Eddie Guerrero]] was involved in a storyline with [[The Undertaker]] that ended in him buried alive. The weekend the game came out... well, Eddie died. A game later, Undertaker said "Your grieving family will have no one but you to blame." to Benoit. The next year, Chris.. well, [[Funny Aneurysm Moment|you know...]]

* [[Death of a Thousand Cuts]]: The number of concussions he received over his career were believed to have contributed to the circumstances leading to him killing his family and taking his own life.