Bigger Draw: Chris Benoit or Eddie Guerrero

[PsychoBlack]

Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero were best friends throughout their entire careers. They were world champions on their respective shows at the same time and wrestled all over the world together. Eddie, while a great in ring worker gained his popularity through his mic skills and hilarious gimmicks. Benoit on the other hand placed all of his charisma into his hard hitting style while still being one of the greatest mat wrestlers of all time. In the world of professional wrestling we all know that none of this matters if you cant make money and i want to know which of these guys made more of it.







THIS IS NOT A BASH CHRIS BENOIT THREAD IT IS STRICTLY ABOUT DRAWING POWER AND NONE OF THE OTHER NON WRESTLING BULLSHIT

 

[The Crock]

Eddie. Now, may both men rest in peace, but I believe Guerrero was a bigger draw by a mile. The fans LOVED Eddie, they couldn't get enough of him. Look back to Eddie's time in the WWE, his merchandise was everywhere, he would hit the ring and the arena would erupt. Latino Heat is one of the most beloved stars in WWE, and in his heyday he was one of, if not the, biggest draws the WWE had. Simply put, he drew fans like no other. Sure, Benoit was excellent as an in-ring technician, but he didn't have what Eddie had: The complete package. Eddie had it all, charisma, in-ring skills, mic skills, and loads of fans. Benoit was huge, but he was no Eddie. Eddie raked in the cash for the WWE, Eddie Guerrero STILL sells a ton for the WWE. No question, Eddie Guerrero was the bigger draw.

 

[Krobra]

Eddie Guerrero was a much bigger draw than Chris Benoit. If you watch the earlier matches, Eddie would get a much bigger response than Benoit. Both were good WWE/World Heavyweight Champions, but I believe that Guerrero had the better title reign. Eddie defeated Brock Lesnar at No Way Out to win the WWE Championship, a feat that NO ONE would ever think happen. Eddie defended his championship against Kurt Angle and against JBL before losing it to JBL in a controversial Texas Rope match (or whatever it was called). Benoit didn't have a bad World Heavyweight title reign either. He defeated Shawn Michaels and Triple H twice, once at Wrestlemania XX and Backlash, and Triple H once again. He lost the World Heavyweight Championship against Randy Orton.

Both were good Champions, and may they rest in piece.

 

[Ultra Awesome]

Eddie by miles and miles away. While it’s safe to say that Chris Benoit was also very good, there is one thing that Eddie had that far surpassed what Benoit was lacking, and that of course was the immense connection he had with the fans.

Eddie Guerrero is arguably one of the best in-ring performers to have ever lived. The guy knew exactly how to entertain a crowd while performing inside the squared circle. Being a master of in-ring psychology, Eddie fed off of the energy released from the crowd. Had the crowd felt a bit sluggish, he would start off slow and little by little progressing into faster, more elegant moves. Every single time performing to the outmost limit and beyond.

Not only that, but then you have the fact that Eddie (along with Mysterio) are responsible for a good amount of the increase in the number of Hispanic fans the WWE had achieved. Then you have the whole "Lying, Cheating, and Stealing" gimmick he had going---something everyone enjoyed seeing.

Chris Benoit was great, but Eddie was better when it came to connecting with the fans. And that is the reason I believe him to have been the better draw. Both in the ring, on the mic---you name it, the fans were drawn to Eddie much more than they were to Chris Benoit.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Chris Benoit was the bigger draw. He was a huge draw in Japan defeating great names like Liger. He was a bigger deal than Eddie Guerrero in WCW when he joined the Four Horseman in was a world champion. In the WWE, he was put in title matches against the Undertaker and The Rock in 2000 and feuded with Austin and HHH in 2001. From 2002-2004, it was arguable that Benoit was the best wrestler on the planet. Eddie may have had a connection with the fans because of his mic work but Benoit had a better connection in my opinion because of his in-ring work.

 

[Wrestling Free Thinker]

Eddie was. He could talk you into the match. Benoit rarely got promo time like Eddie did.

People forget you need to talk people into seats and make them BELIEVE in the story. Eddie did that.

and Eddie wasn't in WWE in late 2000 or 2001, but Benoit was.

 

[mulkeymania]

my personal opinion i liked watching benoit more than guerrero but its just a personal choice but for the drawing power it was eddie guerrero by a long shot--i considered him and benoit equals as far as actual in ring ability but eddie had way more charisma and mic skills than benoit did and i believe made him more over with the fans.
benoit was good at making you believe he was legitimate tough but wasnt good with the mic while guerrero possessed the whole package.
if you ever wanted to see quality in action though a match between these 2 would suffice every time.

 

[Disturbed]

No doubt it is Eddie. The fans loved Eddie and they loved Benoit but they got behind Eddie more because he was so entertaining. He would go out and put on memorable matches and while he did that he would throw in a lot entertainment and comedic moments. The fans got behind Benoit because he was so tough and worked so hard. He would take a bump and then would jump up and keep going. Thats why bthe crowd was behind Benoit because of his heart but quite frankly Eddie had a tad bit more heart and he proved that to the fans night in and night out.

 

[Hin]

I like both but for drawing I gotta go with benoit. Benoit was the wcw and wwf champion. You gotta be able to draw to be champion. Guerrero was wwf champion but in wcw at best he was the u.s champion and that was early in his wcw career.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

I don't know why people say Benoit wasn't good on the mic. He wasn't a great talker like Punk or Jericho. He was more of a Batista kind of talker where he didn't need to say much because he did his talking in the ring. He is just more impressive to me than Guerrero because he got over in the ring without being a great mic worker which is hard to do in this day and age.

 

[trinerigelado]

Eddie was the bigger draw with his run as a tag team with Art Barr. They were the hottest tag team in the world at the time. The team was approaching 80's Roadwarriors, Crockett era RnR Express, before they started dying Von Erichs, WWF Bulldogs, and Gordy/Hayes Freebirds as far as how hot they were. As far as ECW, WCW, WWF, and New Japan Benoit might have been a better draw.

I like both but for drawing I gotta go with benoit. Benoit was the wcw and wwf champion. You gotta be able to draw to be champion. Guerrero was wwf champion but in wcw at best he was the u.s champion and that was early in his wcw career.

Benoit's WCW title was when Russo was booking WCW and he was given his release while he was champ, those two facts should tell you how much of a draw Benoit was at the time.

 

[Hin]

Eddie was the bigger draw with his run as a tag team with Art Barr. They were the hottest tag team in the world at the time. The team was approaching 80's Roadwarriors, Crockett era RnR Express, before they started dying Von Erichs, WWF Bulldogs, and Gordy/Hayes Freebirds as far as how hot they were. As far as ECW, WCW, WWF, and New Japan Benoit might have been a better draw.


Benoit's WCW title was when Russo was booking WCW and he was given his release while he was champ, those two facts should tell you how much of a draw Benoit was at the time.

Shitty. I didnt know that. Why did they make him that champion then?

 

[wwetv21]

eddie drew more attention, but benoit was the better wrestler eddie had that more happy look , while benoits look was kick ur ass win and get out of here attitude.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Definitely Eddie.

In their earlier years in the 'E, Chris Benoit was marketed as the bigger star. He was the leader of the Radicalz, won the IC title first and was given world title matches.

However, he never had the same connection with the fans as Eddie did. The fans loved Latino Heat whether he was with his Mamacita or whether he was lying, cheating and stealing his way to victory. Eddie's natural personality and love for the business shone through and his natural charisma made fans fall in love with him.

While Benoit was probably the better actual wrestler, his stony demenour and lack of charisma did not appeal as much to the fans as Eddie did, which was always Benoits stumbling block. His lack of charisma did stop him from getting the world title more than he did, he just didnt have the emotional connection with the fans to be the top guy.

Eddie did. And the fans got behind Eddie when he was going for the world title more than almost any other wrestler I have seen, and they erupted when he beat Lesnar finally. The fans wanted to see Eddie Guerrero succeed, and he was by far the bigger draw

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Well I cannot say much about either guy's time in the Mexican or Japanese promotions as I do not follow them much. However even in the promotions barring WWF and WCW I think it is pretty hard to choose one over the other as they both have wrestled all over the world and were both good enough draws in those regions as well. That is though only an opinion formed by what I have read about them rather than actually following the promotions in which they wrestled so I could be wrong.

As far as WWE is concerned Eddie was easily the bigger draw. Benoit was given a championship run from Wrestlemania to Summerslam. Before that he was in the midcard and after his run he fell back to the midcard and stayed there till his career( and ironically his life) ended.

Eddie had a shorter reign than Benoit but he always hovered around the main event without actually winning the championship. Even after his championship reign ended he feuded with main eventers like Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio. In fact he main evented his last PPV against Batista and was scheduled to win another championship belt. Eddie never left the main event once he got there but the same cannot be said of Benoit.

So Eddie is a bigger draw than Benoit, in my opinion.