Benoit Lives

[rge2010]

Just reading on the news page an article by Mark Madden. He says...

I was checking out the world title history at WWE.com and I saw a name I didn’t expect: Chris Benoit. I was shocked. I thought Benoit’s legacy had been redacted by WWE. A further check of WWE.com revealed that two DVDs featuring Benoit are for sale: A Royal Rumble collection, and a steel-cage match collection. Benoit still exists in the WWE universe.

It's almost impossible to delete Benoit from history giving what he achieved in WWE. Vinny Mac has tried but seems they could be relaxing the rules a bit. He won't appear in WWE 13, 14 or even 25 or get a 3 disc Blu Ray highlighting his career and obviously will never appear in the HOF but will WWE slowly but surely start to recognise Benoit the wrestler? Where do you see it going from here?

I also want to draw issue with something else Madden said...

But to act as if Benoit never existed is silly. He was one of the greatest workers of his generation, a performer who beat size limitations to become a star – a star in WWE, no less, where bigger has always been better.

Has this guy never heard of Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Bret Hart, Eddie Guererro, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk, RVD, The Miz, Christian, Bob Backlund???

These are all World Champions within WWE over the last 20 years. None of these are big guys either. That is 14 other guys along with Benoit making 15. Hell, people like Austin, Cena, Mankind, Edge aint considered 'big guys' either...not like Batista, Lesnar, Taker, Kane, Hogan etc anyway.

What makes Benoit so special? Why would Madden make such a mis informed comment?

 

[nebyelkao]

please look at the wording of the sentence before posting, if you read it carefully it says, "ONE OF", at no point does he state that benoit is the greatest 'smaller' guy to have succeeded in the wwe

 

[bcwar]

I fail to see the misinformation ... nowhere does Mark say Benoit is the only small guy to succeed in WWE's big world. Just points out his obvious accomplishment where at that time WWE and just about every other company clearly favored big men and pushed the smaller guys towards junior/cruiser weight divisions.

 

[MikeyTheAwesome]

Please re-read Mark Madden's statement.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Cena isn't "big"? By "big" what are you using? Height? No he isn't as tall as some of the others... but he is clearly the musclebound stereotype that WWE champions have in the main tended to be.

What makes Benoit "special" is that he is someone who in the scheme of things was never even going to have a shot... In the 80's he would have been the equivalent of Jake Roberts or Rick Martel, in the early 90's a Bobby Eaton or Arn Anderson. Someone who you would put near the top of your card and would work the best match on the show for the wrestling fans, not the t-shirt buying kids. Guys like him were "never" supposed to get the brass ring in the eyes of the old business.

He and Eddie between them did something massive, one proved that you could conquer demons and come out better, wiser and more importantly reliable. Benoit's side of it was that being hard working, reliable and being good at what you do was enough to be the champion. He ended the myth that you HAD to be a strong mic worker or be dripping in gimmick to carry the company, just no frills wrestling could carry a company for a time even in the craziness in WCW. He could win a title held by greats and walk the next day taking his 3 closest friends in the company, cos his hard work had got him to that position, not by politicking or causing backstage issues and walk into WWE as the leader of the hottest faction for many years.

That WMXX moment was massive in that for those few moments, wrestling was in many ways the "purest" and closest to a real sport it has ever been, there was no real gimmicks, kayfabe, fakeness, just two hardworking friends who had earned their moment for by sticking together. They were both part of the equation...

If Benoit had never been champion then Miz, no chance in hellfire... ditto for Rey and Christian and probably Edge too. Backlund? He transitioned a belt. Austin WAS a great worker when he was in WCW but by the time he got his push he was a cripple...and relied on catchprases and others selling the stunner. Savage was a strong champion but even he was jacked and gimmicked to the nines, he wasn't a massive step away from Hogan.

Bret, Jericho both had strong cases, but Bret had always been over and earmarked for greatness if Vince ever chose to go that way (which he did) ditto for Jericho. Benoit forced himself into that title run, short as it was and he did it without a mic, a catchprase, a flashy finisher or kids caring about him.

Sadly he is also remembered as a murderer... you can never square that circle, but the legacy IS worth preserving if only for that moment at WM, cos to flush it means you flush Eddie and you flush most of the newer guys you mention too...

 

[bjdc1204]

Oh goodness, let me step in!

Here's the quote again.....

"But to act as if Benoit never existed is silly. He was one of the greatest workers of his generation, a performer who beat size limitations to become a star – a star in WWE, no less, where bigger has always been better".

It means Benoit beat the odds and became a star......in a company where bigger was always better. He's not saying those guys that you've mentioned hasn't done that. He's just saying that Benoit was ONE of the guys who's done it!! That's all.

 

[Remy LaCroix]

Re-read the column, dude. nebyelkao said it best: one of.

Also, if you click on Chris Benoit in the title history, it directs you to a page with no information. Just a little tidbit for everyone.

 

[Pedigree1]

It is impossible to erase benoit from the history books!! As a person ehh enough has been said about that on here wont go there. As a performer wow he was a ruthless person went balls out every night day in day out!! Very talented strong in spite of how tall he was. i sometimes go back to the old dvds royal rumble WM just to relive him. Most definitely amazing performer

 

[ApolloXavier]

ok so I have to write about this.First off no one will ever forget what happen that night.Also he will never be mention on WWE tv probably ever,but he is probably one of my favorite wrestlers.He was by far one of the best in the ring.One of my favorite matches of his was the royal rumble match against Kurt angle for the Heavyweight belt.That match was put together so perfect and by far one of the best Techincal matches I have seen.Anyways I do understand why he will never be mention or shown on WWE again,but my question is what would the fans do if he got inducted in the HOF.would they cheer ,boo,or protest.Also I really hope when they do this movie they dont just focus on the bad.Anyways I will always totally respect the wrestler Chris Benoit but not the man himself.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

It's not easy for anyone to write about Benoit. Especially someone that considered him a friend. I don't appreciate everything Madden said or everything WWE does hiding or not hiding his existence but I understand the level of complication and accept that no one is going to examine and present the topic perfectly.

 

[The Champ]

No, they're not relaxing the rules. They never removed Benoit from the title histories, they just took the descriptions out of them. Also, the DVDs are likely old ones that they forgot to remove.

WWE will never mention Benoit again, get over it.

 

[Flip36]

I mentioed Beniot's name at MSG last month and got dirty looks! I mean, OK, I get it, but before he did what he did, he was a damn good wrestler!