[22] This feud significantly elevated both men's careers as singles competitors, and both remained at the top of the midcard afterward. Injuries indicated that Benoit had pressed a knee into the back while pulling on a cord around the neck, causing strangulation. [23][24], At November to Remember, Benoit accidentally broke Sabu's neck within the opening seconds of the match. [86][87] On the following episode of SmackDown!, Mark Henry brutalized Benoit during their match, giving him (kayfabe) back and rib injuries and causing him to bleed from his mouth. [91] Later, Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP), who claimed that he was the best man to hold the United States title, challenged Benoit for the title at WrestleMania 23, where Benoit retained. Upon arriving in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Benoit spent about a year training in their "New Japan Dojo" with the younger wrestlers to improve his abilities. It was also in this time period that Benoit wrestled in his first WWF pay-per-view main events, challenging The Rock for the WWF Championship at Fully Loaded in July and as part of a fatal four way title match at Unforgiven in September. The feud continued after Benoit stole Angle's cherished Olympic Gold Medal. Did you see Dark Side of the Ring: Chris Benoit? 69 of the top 500 greatest wrestlers in the, The A-Team (Dusty Adonis and Michael Avery), Funky Bunch (Marky Mark and Phoenix Taylor), This page was last edited on 1 May 2021, at 18:56. [60] At Survivor Series, Benoit sided with Randy Orton's team while Edge teamed with Triple H's team, and while Edge was able to pin Benoit after a Pedigree, Orton's team won. Wherever you looked on social media last week, the main two topics of conversations in the wrestling world were COVID-19 and Chris Benoit. Chris Benoit was scheduled to appear at the WWE SmackDown live event in Beaumont, Texas. wrestlers. Hart defeated Benoit by submission, and the two received a standing ovation, and an embrace from guest ring announcer, Harley Race. This culminated in a match at Judgment Day where Angle won a two out of three falls match with the help of Edge and Christian. Randazzo argues, “In practice, it would seem this original version of the program had large loopholes in it, and large blind spots that allowed wrestlers to use drugs at a really large scale without tripping the test.” And the doc shows texts that Nancy sent to Chris Benoit about his steroid abuse, with one text reading: “we both know the wellness program is a joke.”. According to his father, Chris was obsessive as a child, totally in love with the idea of becoming a wrestler and started preparing himself by the age of 12. 16:34. A key focus of the documentary is that after Eddie Guerrero died in 2005, Chris Benoit fell apart emotionally. This led to some friction being created between Benoit and leader, Douglas, who called into question Benoit's heart in the group, causing Benoit to quit the group, thus turning face, and having his own crusade against the top stars, winning the Television title one more time and the United States title from Jeff Jarrett in a ladder match. [102][103] Another of Benoit's trademark moves was three rolling German suplexes. As a kid and a young wrestler Chris Benoit was a big admirer of [33] He gained some amount of revenge after beating Angle in a "Ultimiate Submission" match at Backlash. Upon arriving in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), Benoit spent about a year training in their "New Japan Dojo" with the younger wrestlers to improve his abilities. [90] Benoit then engaged in a feud with Chavo and Vickie Guerrero. [85] At Judgment Day, Benoit gained some revenge by defeating Finlay with the Crippler Crossface in a grudge match. That was something that was really hard for us to do, but because we all wanted our jobs, it was understood.”. [93] Benoit would wrestle MVP one last time at Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIV on May 28, (aired June 2), in a winning effort in a tag-team match where Benoit partnered with Batista and MVP partnered with then-World Heavyweight Champion Edge.[94]. They backed off like I didn’t even exist.”, Vickie Guerrero, who became an on-screen personality for the company after her husband’s passing, notes, “It was understood that we were not to speak of Chris, speak of Benoit, speak of anyone of that incident. After Benoit left WCW for the WWF, WCW refused to acknowledge Benoit's victory as an official title reign, and Benoit's title reign was not listed in the title lineage at WCW.com. According to Benoit, in his first match, he attempted the diving headbutt before learning how to land correctly, and had the wind knocked out of him; he said he would never do the move again at th… (taped on the same night as Raw), Benoit defeated Triple H in a tribute match to his fallen friend. A key focus of the documentary is that after … [121] Benoit then committed suicide by hanging himself on his lat pulldown machine. [104] This move would later be mimicked by multiple other wrestlers, including Brock Lesnar who uses it as Suplex City. Benoit first came to World Championship Wrestling in June 1992, teaming up with fellow Canadian wrestler Biff Wellington for the NWA World Tag Team Championship tournament; they were defeated by Brian Pillman and Jushin Thunder Liger in the first round at Clash of the Champions XIX. The Revolution was a heel stable of younger wrestlers who felt slighted (both kayfabe and legitimate) by WCW management, believing they never gave them the chance to be stars, pushing older, more established wrestlers instead, despite their then-current questionable worthiness of their pushes. "[127] He was reported to have had an advanced form of dementia, similar to the brains of four retired NFL players who had suffered multiple concussions, sank into depression, and harmed themselves or others. [98], Benoit included a wide array of submission holds in his move-set and used a crossface, dubbed the Crippler Crossface, and a sharpshooter as finishers. Obviously this list is going to be really rough-going, so please know that going in, as we talk about the actions of a man who shouldn’t be remembered, but cannot be forgotten. The date, June 25, 2007, when the bodies of former WCW and World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy, and their 7-year-old-son Daniel were found by police is still a painful and dark blemish on the professional world of wrestling. Within a few months, blood was also banned, which returned WWE's product to its pre-1997 rule on prohibiting deliberate blading in matches. He toured Japan until WCW called.[22]. [citation needed], Angle won his third WWE Championship from Big Show at Armageddon,[42] and Benoit faced him for the title at the 2003 Royal Rumble. Booker refused that victory, instead opting for an eighth match at the Great American Bash to see who would fight Finlay later that night. Sablelicious. [45], In April 2003, following WrestleMania XIX, Benoit then feuded with John Cena (wearing a shirt saying "Toothless Aggression") and The Full Blooded Italians,[46][47] teaming with Rhyno occasionally. Chris Benoit kisses his son Daniel after winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XX. Benoit quickly won his first title in the WWF just over a month later at WrestleMania 2000, pinning Chris Jericho in a triple threat match to win Kurt Angle's Intercontinental Championship. Benoit wrestled in two matches at Bad Blood in his respective rivalries; he and Edge failed to regain the World Tag Team Championship (winning by disqualification when Kane interfered) while he successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Kane. [38][39], After returning to SmackDown!, he embarked on a feud with Kurt Angle in which he defeated him at Unforgiven. The pair used the win as a springboard to challenge Austin for his WWF Championship. David was a regular at WWE shows with his father and was present for Benoit’s huge World Championship win at WrestleMania XX. Aug. 26, 2010 — -- A powerhouse in the ring, Chris Benoit was a world-famous wrestler and champion to his fans, loved by all.No one ever suspected … [127] Benoit's father suggests that brain damage may have been the leading cause of the crime. Tests were conducted on Benoit's brain by Julian Bailes, the head of neurosurgery at West Virginia University, and results showed that "Benoit's brain was so severely damaged it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient. Benoit and Nancy were forced to spend time together to make the affair look real, (hold hands in public, share hotel rooms, etc.).[26]. Which was absolutely not the truth.”. At one point in time, Chris Benoit was on top of the professional wrestling world, defeating Triple H and Shawn Michaels in one of the greatest main events in WrestleMania history to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion in 2004. brand in a losing effort on Raw. [37] Rob Van Dam defeated Benoit at SummerSlam and returned the title to Raw. The documentary says that Eddie was trying to help Chris find his “higher power”. As anyone who visited WWE.com in the weeks following the Benoit case will know, Chris Benoit was erased from WWE history as the company washed their hands of anything to do with their former World Champion. Christopher Michael Benoit (/bənˈwɑː/; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian professional wrestler. In early 2001, Benoit broke away from The Radicalz (who had recently reformed three months earlier) and turned face, feuding first with his former stablemates and then with Kurt Angle, whom he wrestled and lost to at WrestleMania X-Seven. He was also the 2004 Royal Rumble winner, joining Shawn Michaels and preceding Edge as one of three men to win a Royal Rumble as the number one entrant. Chris Benoit, May 21, A top performer for the World Wrestling Entertainment, Chris Benoit was a hardworking wrestler, who had severe brain damage due to years of taking hits on the head, and eventually killed his wife, son and took his own life, Chris Benoit left a mark on the WWE and the wrestling Universe as a fierce competitor and a battle-hardy veteran. He held that title for over a year, having many forty-plus minute matches with Villano III. [52] On January 25, 2004, he won the Royal Rumble by last eliminating Big Show, and thus earned a world title shot at WrestleMania XX. [73], On November 13, 2005, Eddie Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room. Edge won the match by knocking Benoit off of the ladder by smashing his arm with a chair. [112], Benoit was also close friends with Dean Malenko, as the trio travelled from promotion to promotion together putting on matches, eventually being dubbed the "Three Amigos" by commentators. At the end of 1995, Benoit went back to Japan as a part of the "talent exchange" to wrestle as a representative for New Japan in the Super J-Cup: 2nd Stage, defeating Lionheart in the quarterfinals (he received a bye to the quarterfinals for his work in 1995, similar to the way he advanced in the 1994 edition) and losing to Gedo in the semifinals. “Everyone deserves forgiveness. The documentary also features interviews from former WWE wrestler and now President of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, Chris Nowinski, who talks at length about the connections between Chris Benoit’s actions and the multiple concussions he suffered wrestling. His debut match was a tag team match on November 22, 1985, in Calgary, Alberta, where he teamed with "The Remarkable" Rick Patterson against Butch Moffat and Mike Hammer, which Benoit's team won the match after Benoit pinned Moffat with a sunset flip. He did not achieve full rotation and landed almost directly on his neck.[25]. There was no indication that anything in Benoit's body contributed to his violent behaviour that led to the murder-suicide, concluding that there was no "roid-rage" involved. The show featured a lot of wrestlers talking about how much they all loved and admired Chris Benoit. On Monday, June 25th, after finding out about the tragedy earlier that day, WWE ran a tribute show to honour the career of Chris Benoit. While in the dojo, he spent months doing strenuous activities like push ups and floor sweeping before stepping into the ring. The issue is, if Chris were here and we could talk to him, he would say, ‘putting me in the Hall of Fame is going to be one of the great distractions of the entire event’.”, Jericho agrees, saying that Benoit used to tell him that while critics are critics, nothing else matters but the respect of your peers, saying that if Benoit could see how his peers now see him, he wouldn’t want that. He grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, from where he was billed throughout the bulk of his career. in a two-out-of-three falls match. After he and Eaton lost to Scorpio and Marcus Bagwell at Slamboree, Benoit headed back to Japan. After impressing higher-ups with his work, he was approached by Ric Flair and the WCW booking staff to become a member of the reformed Four Horsemen in 1995, alongside Flair, Arn Anderson, and Brian Pillman; he was introduced by Pillman as a gruff, no-nonsense heel similar to his ECW persona, "The Crippler". Nancy wanted Chris Benoit to quit wrestling in 2007. In 1989, Stampede closed its doors, and with a recommendation from Bad News Allen, Benoit departed for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Chris Benoit Deceased Also known as Wild Pegasus, Pegasus Kid, Dynamite Chris Everyone deserves mercy. The two hunted after the tag team championship for several months, feuding with teams like Raven and Perry Saturn or Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio, Jr. After a falling out with Anderson and McMichael, Benoit and Malenko left the Horsemen; he won the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship[22] before bringing together Malenko, Perry Saturn, and Shane Douglas to form "The Revolution". Dark Side of the Ring returns for a second season on Tuesday, March 24, and its premiere episode details the double murder-suicide of former … [27] One last attempt in January 2000 was made to try to keep him with WCW, by putting the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship on him by defeating Sid Vicious at Souled Out. During the investigation into steroid abuse, it was revealed that other wrestlers had also been given steroids. He was brought in to add a new dynamic for Anderson and Flair's tormenting of Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage in their "Alliance to End Hulkamania", which saw the Horsemen team up with The Dungeon of Doom, but that alliance ended with Dungeon leader and WCW booker, Kevin Sullivan feuding with Pillman. He was forced to leave ECW after his work visa expired; Heyman was supposed to renew it, but he failed to make it on time, so Benoit left ECW in August 1995 as a matter of job security and the ability to enter the United States. What Chris did, nearly destroyed the only thing he ever loved from a professional standpoint.”, However, David Benoit says, “I want them to recognize Nancy. Shame on us for that, I guess…We did not know all the information, that’s our fault.”. The following night, Raw held a Guerrero tribute show hosted by both Raw and SmackDown! During the first WWF draft, he was the third wrestler picked by Vince McMahon to be part of the new SmackDown! With Benoit being on the SmackDown! [18] Benoit trained to become a professional wrestler in the Hart family "Dungeon", receiving education from family patriarch Stu Hart. He wanted answers from the Guerreros for their rash behaviour towards Rey Mysterio, but was avoided by the two and was eventually assaulted. 5:50. Arn said he still can’t seem to … [120] Over a three-day period, Benoit had killed his wife and son before committing suicide. Evolution vs Edge, Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho Raw June 14, 2004 part 1. He spent most of his childhood in Alberta. On his first night back, he turned heel again and aligned himself with Eddie Guerrero, and he feuded with Stone Cold Steve Austin briefly. Benoit held the WCW Tag Team title and Television title. brand at the time, it was assumed that he was going to compete for his brand's championship, the WWE Championship. This is followed up by an interview with David Benoit, struggling to get through, when he is hugged by Chavo Guerrero – an executive producer on the series – and Sandra. brand in the 2005 Draft Lottery and participated in an ECW-style revolution against the SmackDown! In October 1999 on Nitro in Kansas City, Missouri, Benoit wrestled Bret Hart as a tribute to Owen Hart, who had recently died due to an equipment malfunction. [22] After winning, they were initiated into the Triple Threat stable, led by ECW World Heavyweight Champion, Shane Douglas, as Douglas's attempt to recreate the Four Horsemen, as the three-man contingency held all three of the ECW championships at the time (Malenko also held the ECW World Television Championship at the time). The team lost the championship to The Public Enemy that April at Three Way Dance. The chief medical examiner attributed the testosterone level to Benoit possibly being treated for a deficiency caused by previous steroid abuse or testicular insufficiency. [123], Toxicology reports released on July 17, 2007, revealed that at their time of death, Nancy had three different drugs in her system: Xanax, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone, all of which were found at the therapeutic rather than toxic levels. This culminated in a retirement match at the Bash at the Beach, where Benoit defeated Sullivan; this was used to explain Sullivan going to a behind-the-scenes role, where he could focus on his initial job of booking. He lost in the final match to his neck injury, missing the entire Invasion storyline and Mysterio... Edge, Chris Benoit 5, all-time greats t want anything to,! [ 102 ] [ 100 ] he married twice, and Daniel were dead continued for the! Sharmell 's interference, and Benoit became a part of him “ it nearly took the! 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