One of the reasons why WrestleMania is considered "the showcase of the immortals".
Okay, before his Pater Familicide, it's hard to deny that Chris Benoit was an AWESOME wrestler. Without excusing or condoning the events at the end of his life, here are some of the awesome moments of his career:
Pre-WCW
- His greatness is Older than You Think: a good CMOA candidate came during the Super J Cup in April 1994. A short history for you: New Japan Pro Wrestling (The company Benoit was working for at the time) was in doubt as to whether light-heavyweights could draw money, but they agreed to host a one-night tournament as a test. If it went well, they'd continue to wrestle in NJPW. If not, they'd be pushed to the undercard, if not cut entirely. Fast forward to the finals of the tournament, where Benoit finds himself against The Great Sasuke, a man he cannot communicate with, is openly hostile to foreigners, doesn't even work for NJPW, and has just come off a grueling 20 minute war against NJPW's ace, Jushin Thunder Liger. With the fate of his division resting on his shoulders, Benoit and Sasuke create a 5 star classic that steals the show on what has been called the best single night in the history of pro wrestling by a number of critics. It should go without saying that Benoit was victorious.
WCW
- Back when he was in WCW, after a loss in a Tag Team match with Perry Saturn, he cut a promo where he called out the cliques backstage. Whether a shoot or a work it still needed to be said:"There's a group of us who are sick of the politics back there! Who are sick and tired of the guys who monopolize the top spots in this industry!"
- Just before Benoit left WCW for WWE he was booked to win the World Heavyweight Title at Souled Out 2000 as an incentive to get him to stay. Since he wanted to leave because of Kevin Sullivan being put back on the booking team, Benoit wasn't satisfied. Popular lore says that the morning after winning the WCW World Title, Benoit went into the office of Bill Busch (then executive producer of WCW Monday Nitro), asked for his release, took the belt, and dropped it into Busch's trash can! Would anyone else have the level of balls it took to say you wanted out with a statement like that?
WWE
- When he and the rest of the Radicalz first came over to the WWE in 2000, Benoit ended up having a fallout with the rest of the group the following year. They challenged him to a Gauntlet Match, which much like its name implies requires a solo wrestler to Run the Gauntlet against several opponents. Despite being outnumbered three to one, and having to fight each of his opponents without a rest, Benoit still came out on top.
- Benoit's match with Kurt Angle at WrestleMania X-Seven was a technical thrill ride and one of the reasons this WrestleMania is hailed as one of the all-time best wrestling shows period. One notable highlight was Benoit and Angle each trying to use the other's finishing moves on them.
- His victory with Chris Jericho over "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Triple H (Who tore his quad during the match but still continued to wrestle) for the WWF Tag Team Title in May of 2001. Again, a Match of the Year favorite by many.
- There's more - the night before at Judgement Day, Benoit wrestled a two-out-of-three falls match with Kurt Angle and took part in a Tag Team Turmoil match later that night; then he wrestled the tag title match on RAW; and the next night at the SmackDown! tapings, due to Triple H's Game-Breaking Injury, Benoit took part in a TLC match as well. Which is the match where he broke his neck.
- His match against
Rhyno on the May 28th, 2001 episode of RAW is awesome enough, but the highlight of the match is it's ending; which has Benoit countering a Gore into the Crossface with broken ribs. AND HE MAKES THE MAN-BEAST TAP. WITH BROKEN RIBS. - His 2003 Royal Rumble Match against Kurt Angle. The match itself was outstanding and deemed the greatest of their matches, but the CMOA was the standing ovation he received after he LOST the match.
- The 2003 Survivor Series Team Angle vs Team Lesnar match. After only him and John Cena are left on their team and Brock Lesnar and Big Show, he eliminates Lesnar by making him tap out with the crossface, becoming the second man (after Kurt Angle) to ever make him tap out. Also he and Cena were the survivors of that match.
- His WWE Championship match on [SmackDown!] in 2003 against Brock Lesnar. First, it was his second match of the night as he had to earn the opportunity to be No. 1 contender in match against John Cena, with he won by making Cena tap out. Second, as it was a few weeks after the Survivor Series match mentioned above, the crowd was chanting to Lesnar "You Tapped Out" when he came out as Lesnar had earlier vowed to never tap out again after the first time with Kurt Angle, and making a vow for that night to make Benoit tap out. Third, the match itself with Benoit and Lesnar trying to tear each other apart for over 10 minutes. After failing to pin Lesnar after his signature Diving Headbutt and failing to lock in the Crossface twice, after Lesnar accidentally knocks out the referee with Benoit's body, Benoit finally locks in the Crossface and makes Lesnar tap, but since the referee is down he does not win. After trying to wake up the referee, Benoit gets caught by Lesnar and get a F-5 for his trouble with the referee finally waking up and starting the count, only to kick out at 2. Lesnar, since the referee is still on the ground trying to recover, then goes to get a steel chair and hit Benoit's right leg, to which Benoit cries in pain and to top it off Lesnar debuts his Brock Lock/Strench Muffler submission, the match ends after Benoit refuses to tap out and passes out from the pain. Benoit may not have won that night but he left Lesnar's vow unfulfilled, had a Wrestling Monster like Lesnar cheat to win, tapped Lesnar out again and was such a Determinator that he refused to give up that he got a standing ovation when he finally got up to walk out.
- His Royal Rumble win in 2004, starting at #1, lasting 61 minutes, 30 seconds and eliminating the biggest people in the match: Mark Henry, Bradshaw, Rhyno, Matt Morgan, A-Train and finally The Big Show. He could not have been made to look like a bigger badass in that match.
- Not to mention that the 2004 Royal Rumble Match is considered the greatest Rumble Match of all time, and even received a 5 star rating from wrestling critics J.D. Dunn and Scott Keith.
- Benoit's victory and post-match celebration with Eddie Guerrero at WrestleMania XX is the prime example, certainly helped by the fact that it was probably the best match of the year, and one of the best of Benoit's career. The story going into WMXX was that Benoit was in a Triple Threat match with Shawn Michaels and Triple H (the reigning World Heavyweight Champion), and the Smarks believed that Benoit stood only a small chance of winning. After one of the best WM matches ever, Benoit made Triple H tap cleanly to the Crippler Crossface in the middle of the ring to finally win a world title (in Madison Square Garden on the twentieth anniversary of the Showcase of the Immortals, no less), and then-WWE Champion (and close friend) Eddie Guerrero came out to celebrate with him, and the two friends hugged, in the center of Madison Square Garden, while openly weeping, creating one of the most iconic images in WM history. If you were to tell a WrestleCrap board member that Chris Benoit would cleanly beat Triple H and Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XX back in 2004, he would've died of laughter.
- Bad Blood 2004 saw Chris (the reigning World Heavyweight Champion at the time) team up with fellow Canadian Edge to challenge La Resistance for the World Tag Team Championship. After winning by disqualification (in which a title cannot change hands), Kane (the no. 1 contender for the World Title who would face Benoit later that same night) brutally attacks both Benoit and Edge. Despite which, he manages to defeat Kane later that night, winning his second match of the night.
- Better yet, Benoit and Edge successfully won the belts at a later date and had a decent one month reign before dropping the belts back to La Resistance.
- Summerslam 2005, making Orlando Jordan tap out in less than 30 seconds to win the United States title.
