Intl. Region, Leeds Subregion, First Round: (4) Chris Benoit vs. (29) Mark Henry

[George Steele's Barber]

I see the argument for Benoit's championship run in WWE but this isn't a battle royal or triple threat (despite Henry being the size of two men). Plus this is international and with the exception of Canada, Henry has a much bigger presence internationally than Benoit. The man was an Olympian.

True love always,
GSB (proud of himself for making two arguments without making a murdering joke #growth)

 

[nightmare]

Royal Rumble 2004- Mark Henry is eliminated by Chris Benoit.

Raw 2004- Chris Benoit debuts on the show & makes Henry tap out in less than 3 minutes.


The last & final meeting was in 2006 & ended with a fight on the outside.



Mark Henry had a nice little run for a few months but went right back to floating around the mid card. Sure he is mean & scary, but Benoit does not care. His career has shown he does not care what size you are- he is going to bring the fight right to you. Sure Henry is strong & can beat a guy down, but is that enough to keep Benoit down? It only takes a second to slap on the crossface & Henry taps out. It has happened before & will happen again.



Benoit had a better career than Henry. He has spent a little time in the spotlight, but Henry was never a big deal. Chris Benoit has been a big deal all over the globe. He has proven to be able to beat Mark Henry & this match ends the same way. Crossface.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Royal Rumble 2004- Mark Henry is eliminated by Chris Benoit.

Raw 2004- Chris Benoit debuts on the show & makes Henry tap out in less than 3 minutes.


The last & final meeting was in 2006 & ended with a fight on the outside.



Mark Henry had a nice little run for a few months but went right back to floating around the mid card. Sure he is mean & scary, but Benoit does not care. His career has shown he does not care what size you are- he is going to bring the fight right to you. Sure Henry is strong & can beat a guy down, but is that enough to keep Benoit down? It only takes a second to slap on the crossface & Henry taps out. It has happened before & will happen again.



Benoit had a better career than Henry. He has spent a little time in the spotlight, but Henry was never a big deal. Chris Benoit has been a big deal all over the globe. He has proven to be able to beat Mark Henry & this match ends the same way. Crossface.

This is no 3 minute match though. Plus remember, Benoit will hit the flying head butt at some point in order to win this match and then one of two things will occur:

1) the collision with a head the size and hardness of Henry's will cause Benoit's already brittle brain to explode or

2) the collision will cause Benoit to go in to a psychotic rampage leading to a DQ

There is no way for Benoit to win.

 

[The Brain]

On the contrary Benoit was booked as mostly a midcarder to an upper midcarder for most of his career prior to maybe 2002.

And other than the second half of 2011 that is better than Mark Henry ever got.

And even up til 2007 prior to his championship run he was basically on the same level as Henry card wise.

Really? Benoit may not have been the main guy but he was always involved in relevant storylines while Henry would just disappear for months or even years at a time either because of injury or because people just didn't care much about him. Benoit had great feuds and matches with guys like Jericho, Angle, Rock, Triple H, and Austin before he ever became champion. And that's not counting anything outside WWE. Besides a mania match with Taker, which most people agree he had no business in, what did Henry do before the title reign in 2011?

Henry has been a consistent upper midcarder following 2006. In 2011 he broke that glass ceiling. IMO his retirement promo alone trumps anything Benoit did, entertainment wise. Benoit's Mania moment was special because you had Chris and Eddie celebrating the moment when they both broke that glass ceiling together.

If there is one word you should not use when describing Mark Henry it's consistent. As I mentioned, he disappears regularly. Would we even be having this conversation in 2010? It would be laughable. Of course Henry has improved since then but a six month hot streak is not enough to trump Benoit's entire career.

TBH I was leaning towards Benoit because his overall legacy was greater. However it's arguable that Henry was a bigger deal during his prime. He was hyped as the top heel in the company, the difference between most top heels being he was world champion. Benoit was a fighting champion, but henry was booked to be seemingly untouchable. And really for the first time in his career too.

For the first time in his career. What took so long? What exactly is Mark Henry's prime? Six months of an 18 year career? Even during his title reign Henry really only shined against Orton. Benoit was successful against Triple H, Michaels, and Kane. Neither were the greatest reigns ever but Henry's certainly wasn't way ahead of Benoit.

If comes down to drawing power or legacy when virtually every other criteria is the same then I'm going to choose drawing power. I'm voting Henry for the upset.

How is Henry a better draw than Benoit?

 

[nightmare]

This is no 3 minute match though.

Why not? Is there some rule that states the matches must be longer? Because I thought a match goes on until one guy wins.


Bell rings, Henry gets in some strong guy offense, Benoit gets mad, grabs the arm- tap tap tap.

Plus remember, Benoit will hit the flying head butt at some point in order to win

Why? He beat him before without the move.

There is no way for Benoit to win.

Fact: Benoit has already found a way. It ended with Henry tapping out.





Benoit has had more success than Henry. More titles, more big wins. Mark Henry being a scary black guy for a few months does not outshine a career of accomplishments. So if you want to vote on who had the bigger career, then Benoit has the advantage. If you want to vote based on who would win in a match, Benoit has already proved he can beat Henry.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

I'm going to be making another long post responding to stuff soon, but I gotta single this point out because it's bugging me.

Either way, Mark Henry isn't necessarily the dominant beast you all think him to be. Remember, Daniel Bryan defeated him AND Big Show (Granted, in a Steel Cage match), but if he can overcome these two men, then why couldn't Benoit overcome the one?

That's the psychology of the WM20 triple threat match at work. In that match, Big Show and Mark Henry were in a heated rivalry, and Bryan was the sleeper candidate to retain. The monsters destroyed one another for the most part, which allowed Bryan to escape with the title. From a kayfabe standpoint, had it been one on one, Bryan would have been annihilated by them (in fact, he was by Henry)

Benoit can't overcome Henry because Henry has no such distractions in this match. He only has Benoit to deal with.

 

[Bythedockofthebay]

I hate to put it this way but Benoit legacy(minus the murder) is such that Henry could never touch Benoit in this match, it's not even that close.

Winner-Benoit makes henry tap to the crossface

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Why not? Is there some rule that states the matches must be longer? Because I thought a match goes on until one guy wins.

Bell rings, Henry gets in some strong guy offense, Benoit gets mad, grabs the arm- tap tap tap.

Why? He beat him before without the move.

Fact: Benoit has already found a way. It ended with Henry tapping out.

What happened to this tournament? When did it become such a joke to you people? Suuurrre, open the tournament with a three minute match. Why not have Doing the Clown come down in five minutes and squirt water from a fake flower lapel causing Henry to lose. This one match you keep going to is a real stretch. A tournament as important as this one deserves better. I'm not saying you are an awful person, certainly not as awful as someone who murdered their wife and kid (I can only assume you haven't done this, if I am wrong I apologize for stereotyping you as someone who hasn't murdered before. That would be insensitive of me).

Benoit has had more success than Henry.

Just a guess but I think Mark Henry's bank account would beg to differ.

More titles, more big wins. Mark Henry being a scary black guy for a few months does not outshine a career of accomplishments.

Not true, Nick Paglino reported that Mark Henry has been black for most if not all of his life.

So if you want to vote on who had the bigger career, then Benoit has the advantage. If you want to vote based on who would win in a match, Benoit has already proved he can beat Henry.

The question isn't "Can?", the question is "Will?". Unlike Benoit, who can win this match, Mark Henry can AND will win this match.

However, I will trade my Mark Henry vote in this round if I can get four members of the forum to guarantee me that they will vote for Andre the Giant in every round of the tournament.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

I hate to put it this way but Benoit legacy(minus the murder) is such that Henry could never touch Benoit in this match, it's not even that close.

Winner-Benoit makes henry tap to the crossface

I was waiting for someone to pull this card out (hell, people have, but not as bluntly)

And it really doesn't matter at all. Let me use an analogy of two science experiments marked on a graph. One experiment rises quite quickly, and then flatlines at level 4, occasionally dipping to Level 3, never rising to the final Level 5. The second experiment reaches Level 2 and stays there for quite some time, eventually gets to Level 3, takes a couple of dips into Level 4, then near the end of the experiment, rockets into Level 5. Which experiment is the more important, the consistent or the highest result?

The consistent is a good experiment, but at the end of the day, the peak performance of the higher result surpasses the consistent.

Benoit accomplished quite a lot, but at the end of the day, the peak performance of Mark Henry was 2011, when he was inducting credible threats into the Hall of Pain. To qualify, you had to be either a fellow monster that made Henry look good in destroying you (Khali, Kane, Big Show), or you had to be an upper-midcarder (Kane, Randy Orton, Sheamus)

Benoit is not the guy to slay the beast. He's the guy that'll make the beast look far more threatening.

By the way, Brain is the only guy that has a coherent argument as to why Benoit will go over. I disagree, but I see his stand-point. I love nightmare, but it's rather conspicuous to see that he's trolling somewhat here, especially considering he's being naive to the fact that Henry lost 7 full years before his prime and his posts in other matches. And then there's ProWrestlingFan, who's saying the same stuff, except he isn't trolling.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

To be honest, a prime Benoit circa Mania 2004 will be tough competition for 2011 Henry, and Benoit would take it. He was pretty good post Mania 20 too and had a fairly good 5 month run.

Again here is a guy who the company let win the big ME so I think I can regard him as a little more powerful in his prime. Benoit here, a good match though.

 

[Nate DaMac]

Get the fuck out out here, man. Mark Henry has been a joke for about 90% of his career now. One "Monster of the Month" reign doesn't trump Benoit's two decades of classic matches, angles, and moments. We're trying to figure out who the best of all time is, and Benoit definitely ranks higher than Henry.

 

[Bernkastel]

And other than the second half of 2011 that is better than Mark Henry ever got.

That would be plausible if Benoit were booked to win the world title again. But he never reached those heights again. Instead he was shuffled about the card and wound up on the same level as Henry.

Really? Benoit may not have been the main guy but he was always involved in relevant storylines while Henry would just disappear for months or even years at a time either because of injury or because people just didn't care much about him.

Benoit was more consistent than Henry from that perspective, fine. But if people didn't flat out not care about him then WWE would have fired him during one of these injury bouts. But they always had a reason to bring him back and Henry was always relevant once he came back.

Benoit had great feuds and matches with guys like Jericho, Angle, Rock, Triple H, and Austin before he ever became champion. And that's not counting anything outside WWE.

But those feuds really didn't help at elevating Benoit any faster did they? If they did Benoit would have been world champion long before 2004. And a multiple one at that. But he wasn't.

And the "great matches and feuds" is subjective from that perspective. I myself enjoyed Henry's programs with Kane/Batista/Angle prior to 2010. I even enjoyed his ECW title match against Matt Hardy.

Besides a mania match with Taker, which most people agree he had no business in, what did Henry do before the title reign in 2011?

ECW champion and a big face run in 2010. And relevance as a jobber to the stars before that. It not like he automatically became "not shit" in 2011. There was a gradual process. Starting in 2006. Just like there was for Benoit leading up to his 2004 title win.

If there is one word you should not use when describing Mark Henry it's consistent. As I mentioned, he disappears regularly. Would we even be having this conversation in 2010? It would be laughable. Of course Henry has improved since then but a six month hot streak is not enough to trump Benoit's entire career.

It is when that one last burst of brilliance was better than anything Benoit accomplished. Quality > quantity.

For the first time in his career. What took so long? What exactly is Mark Henry's prime? Six months of an 18 year career? Even during his title reign Henry really only shined against Orton. Benoit was successful against Triple H, Michaels, and Kane. Neither were the greatest reigns ever but Henry's certainly wasn't way ahead of Benoit.

Benoit had allot of competition sure, but at no point was he booked as being untouchable like Henry. Big Show beating Henry was treated as a bigger deal than punk kid Orton beating Benoit.

How is Henry a better draw than Benoit?

Did Benoit ever have a promo that was so critically acclaimed that it elevated him in the eyes of fans everywhere? Did Benoit ever get people thinking he was going to beat the face of the company for the WWE title? No he didn't.

I'll take Henry's ability to make people forget about how shitty the first decade of his career was compared to a man like Benoit who fell out of relevant once his "15 minutes of fame" in the spotlight were up.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

To be honest, a prime Benoit circa Mania 2004 will be tough competition for 2011 Henry, and Benoit would take it. He was pretty good post Mania 20 too and had a fairly good 5 month run.

Henry was still good after his 2011/2012 rampage. He was a credible challenger to the top WWE babyface as late as July 2013, and pretty much squashed Ryback clean at Wrestlemania 29. But that's just for the sakes of countering that point.

Again here is a guy who the company let win the big ME so I think I can regard him as a little more powerful in his prime. Benoit here, a good match though.

And the same company who made the decision to have HHH vs HBK last at Badd Blood 2004, and have Benoit escape with the title against HHH because of a ******ed guy interfering at Vengeance. It was evident he was playing third fiddle on Raw. Meanwhile, Henry devastated his competition and quickly became the top guy on Smackdown for quite some time. Benoit was clearly being outshined by HHH and HBK, and arguably, the entirity of Evolution and fucking Eugene.

And don't give me the argument that HHH was pulling strings. That doesn't change the fact that Benoit's title run was less of a deal than Henry's title run.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

Henry was still good after his 2011/2012 rampage. He was a credible challenger to the top WWE babyface as late as July 2013, and pretty much squashed Ryback clean at Wrestlemania 29. But that's just for the sakes of countering that point.

He absolutely did not squash Ryback at Mania. I agree that the WWE have done a great job with him these past years making him look like the monster he has always been, but he did NOT squash Ryback at Mania 29.

And the same company who made the decision to have HHH vs HBK last at Badd Blood 2004, and have Benoit escape with the title against HHH because of a ******ed guy interfering at Vengeance. It was evident he was playing third fiddle on Raw. Meanwhile, Henry devastated his competition and quickly became the top guy on Smackdown for quite some time. Benoit was clearly being outshined by HHH and HBK, and arguably, the entirity of Evolution and fucking Eugene.

Don't quote 2004 Raw angles we all know they were stupid. I am saying if WWE has a man go over both Hunter and HBK, at WrestleMania no less, its a big deal. A prime Benoit will make him tap no doubt.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

I'm going to be making another long post responding to stuff soon, but I gotta single this point out because it's bugging me.



That's the psychology of the WM20 triple threat match at work. In that match, Big Show and Mark Henry were in a heated rivalry, and Bryan was the sleeper candidate to retain. The monsters destroyed one another for the most part, which allowed Bryan to escape with the title. From a kayfabe standpoint, had it been one on one, Bryan would have been annihilated by them (in fact, he was by Henry)

Benoit can't overcome Henry because Henry has no such distractions in this match. He only has Benoit to deal with.

Ha.

Henry didn't have no distractions in 2004 when he was tapping to Benoit. Benoit has beaten numerous big guys who didn't have any distractions. Come up with something better.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

He absolutely did not squash Ryback at Mania. I agree that the WWE have done a great job with him these past years making him look like the monster he has always been, but he did NOT squash Ryback at Mania 29.

That's my fault sorry, should have made the "pretty much" I said clearer as he got the majority of the offence in regardless.

Don't quote 2004 Raw angles we all know they were stupid. I am saying if WWE has a man go over both Hunter and HBK, at WrestleMania no less, its a big deal. A prime Benoit will make him tap no doubt.

And again, that's because Benoit had a distinctive psychological advantage, and that's why the match was so brilliant. HHH and HBK were so keen on destroying one another that they lost sight of Benoit, Benoit capitalized and won. He doesn't have that benefit against Mark Henry.

Mark Henry did not tap out in his prime and only lost by pinfall once because of John Cena's interference in a No DQ match. Kane powered out of the Crossface during one of his worst years ever (the year with the Snitsky feud). If Kane could do that in 2004, Henry could do it more than once in 2011.

Benoit's finishing moves are simply not very effective against Mark Henry in his prime. The Crossface has been broken before during Benoit's prime by a non-prime Kane and the Diving Headbutt is only going to really work if he grounds Henry, which has been labelled as an incredibly difficult task for someone Benoit's size to do, especially during Henry's dominant peak.

@LJL: Yeah, Henry tapped out clean without any distractions. 7 years before his prime against a prime Benoit.

 

[Papa Pillman]

The only one on one match with a clean winner that the two had was won by: Benoit. By tapout. Quickly.

How did Benoit get into the Mania main event in '04? He won the Royal Rumble match that year, as the first entrant. Who was the third entrant in that match? Mark Henry. Who eliminated Henry? If you didn't guess Benoit, then you haven't followed where this was going.

Benoit > Henry.

And the head-to-head stats back it up.

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

Chris Benoit​

Memeber of the 4 Horsemen, 3 Times WCW Television Champion, 5 Times WCW/WWE US Champion, 4 Time Intercontinental Champion, 6 Time Tag Team Champion, Royal Rumble Winner, 2 times World Heavyweight Champion (Yes, he won the World title in WCW before coming to WWF at Souled Out 2000).

The guy was wrestling Rock for the WWF Championship in 2000.

Vs.

Mark Henry​

A guy who used to be called "Sexual Chocolate", was involved in some of the most ridiculous storylines in history and remained a mid-carder/lower mid-carder for the majority of his career and people are comparing him to Benoit just because he had a 2 month long World title reign? There really is no comparison.

Benoit > Henry. Fact.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

And again, that's because Benoit had a distinctive psychological advantage, and that's why the match was so brilliant. HHH and HBK were so keen on destroying one another that they lost sight of Benoit, Benoit capitalized and won. He doesn't have that benefit against Mark Henry.

Mark Henry did not tap out in his prime and only lost by pinfall once because of John Cena's interference in a No DQ match. Kane powered out of the Crossface during one of his worst years ever (the year with the Snitsky feud). If Kane could do that in 2004, Henry could do it more than once in 2011.

Benoit's finishing moves are simply not very effective against Mark Henry in his prime. The Crossface has been broken before during Benoit's prime by a non-prime Kane and the Diving Headbutt is only going to really work if he grounds Henry, which has been labelled as an incredibly difficult task for someone Benoit's size to do, especially during Henry's dominant peak.

@LJL: Yeah, Henry tapped out clean without any distractions. 7 years before his prime against a prime Benoit.

Here's the deal though, Henry was built during the fall of 2011 and culminated only to a Team Johnny position at the next WrestleMania. Benoit won the Rumble from the starting line and eliminated the Big Show to boot. Benoit was booked as a buzzsaw whose tenacity can slay giants in stature and size.

Benoit won when he was pushed against the odds. This would be a great matchup on the road to Mania where Benoit's credibility would be enhanced by a win over a Hall Of Pain Henry.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

The only one on one match with a clean winner that the two had was won by: Benoit. By tapout. Quickly.

How did Benoit get into the Mania main event in '04? He won the Royal Rumble match that year, as the first entrant. Who was the third entrant in that match? Mark Henry. Who eliminated Henry? If you didn't guess Benoit, then you haven't followed where this was going.

Benoit > Henry.

And the head-to-head stats back it up.

It's nice that you're being subjective enough to consider that this is Prime Benoit against 2004 Mark Henry, 7 years before Henry's prime. I could easily make the argument that because Benoit faltered to the mid-card before his death and was putting over younger superstars like Punk, he would have put over Mark Henry too. That doesn't work; you've got to consider both men at their primes.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Benoit won when he was pushed against the odds. This would be a great matchup on the road to Mania where Benoit's credibility would be enhanced by a win over a Hall Of Pain Henry.

Do you realize you just made an underdog argument for a #4 seed over a #29 seed? What does that tell you about Benoit's career? Are you even trying to make good arguments? Here Mark Henry is the story of the angry veteran getting little respect by the selection committee, not the vanilla midget finally getting his due after years of being held down by the greedy promoter.

 

[nightmare]

Some accolades\titles of Chris Benoit:


ECW World Tag Team Championship
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Super J Cup (1994)
Top/Best of the Super Juniors (1993, 1995)
Super Grade Junior Heavyweight Tag League (1994)
UWA/NJPW Light Heavyweight Championship (1991)
WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
WCW World Heavyweight Championship
WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times)
WCW World Television Championship (3 times)
World Heavyweight Championship
WWE Tag Team Championship
WWE United States Championship (3 times)
WWF/E Intercontinental Championship (4 times)
WWF/E World Tag Team Championship (3 times)
Royal Rumble (2004)



...and Mark Henry:

ECW Championship
World Heavyweight Championship
WWF European Championship



Oh. Well now that certainly is a lopsided comparative list now isnt it. Guess that takes care of the 'career' argument.


Now lets look at the actual matches they have had against eachother.


Chris Benoit eliminated Mark Henry in the 2004 Royal Rumble.

Benoit makes Henry tap out on Raw in under 3 minutes.

No contest finish on Smackdown in 2006 because Henry refuses to bring the fight back in the ring.



Benoit wins this match. Henry has nothing over him in terms of career or match history. One little mean streak does not outweigh all Benoit has done in the ring.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

Chris Benoit - Memeber of the 4 Horsemen, 3 times WCW Television Champion, 5 Times WCW/WWE US Champion, 4 Time Intercontinental Champion, 6 Time Tag Team Champion, Royal Rumble winner, 2 times World Heavyweight Champion (Yes, he won the World title in WCW before coming to WWF at Souled Out 2000).

The guy was wrestling Rock for the WWF Championship in 2000.

Vs.​

Mark Henry - A guy who used to be called "Sexual Chocolate", was involved in some of the most ridiculous storylines in history and remained a mid-carder/lower mid-carder for the majority of his career and people are comparing him to Benoit just because he had a 2 month long World title reign? There really is no comparison.

Benoit > Henry. Fact.

Let's evaluate this. He was part of a lesser form of the original Four Horsemen, he held some mid-card championships and left as soon as he won the WCW title, when he was the third or fourth contingency plan to win the title because so much shit was going on at the period.

I'll give you that Benoit is more consistent than Henry anyday of the week. But the idea here is that Benoit really was nothing more than an upper-midcarder that would lose to the bigger stars unless he had a psychological advantage twice or had Eugene's interference. Henry trounced the top babyface of his brand and it took another monster to finally stop him, only for that monster to lose that title instantly because of Henry's damage to him.

Here's the deal though, Henry was built during the fall of 2011 and culminated only to a Team Johnny position at the next WrestleMania. Benoit won the Rumble from the starting line and eliminated the Big Show to boot. Benoit was booked as a buzzsaw whose tenacity can slay giants in stature and size.

Benoit won when he was pushed against the odds. This would be a great matchup on the road to Mania where Benoit's credibility would be enhanced by a win over a Hall Of Pain Henry.

Winning the Rumble from #1 is extremely impressive, but remember, that was a Royal Rumble match and not a one on one match. The objective of that match was to eliminate guys by making them go over the top rope, not ground them for long enough to get a pinfall or submission. Plus, I can throw in the multi man match argument there, as there were 29 other guys in that match that needed to be eliminated apart from Benoit. Also, let's focus on the end of the match, when Big Show wrecked shit. If Benoit had been Big Show's first target, he wouldn't have had time to prepare to eliminate Big Show, and would have been eliminated himself. Instead, Big Show took out Cena, RVD, Jericho and Angle before him, which gave Benoit time to prepare. He won't have that time to prepare against Mark Henry because Henry will be on his case. He won't be able to follow his normal formula because we've spoken about Prime Henry being able to take what Benoit can throw at him.

By that logic, if the match was taking place in the fall, Henry would squash Benoit. This isn't a squash though, it's Mark Henry's dominant time at the top beating Benoit's lukewarm time at the top. Henry wins because of that.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

Do you realize you just made an underdog argument for a #4 seed over a #29 seed? What does that tell you about Benoit's career? Are you even trying to make good arguments? Here Mark Henry is the story of the angry veteran getting little respect by the selection committee, not the vanilla midget finally getting his due after years of being held down by the greedy promoter.

I like angry veterans as much as the next redneck but Benoit was a wolverine.

Winning the Rumble from #1 is extremely impressive, but remember, that was a Royal Rumble match and not a one on one match. The objective of that match was to eliminate guys by making them go over the top rope, not ground them for long enough to get a pinfall or submission. Plus, I can throw in the multi man match argument there, as there were 29 other guys in that match that needed to be eliminated apart from Benoit. Also, let's focus on the end of the match, when Big Show wrecked shit. If Benoit had been Big Show's first target, he wouldn't have had time to prepare to eliminate Big Show, and would have been eliminated himself. Instead, Big Show took out Cena, RVD, Jericho and Angle before him, which gave Benoit time to prepare. He won't have that time to prepare against Mark Henry because Henry will be on his case. He won't be able to follow his normal formula because we've spoken about Prime Henry being able to take what Benoit can throw at him.

I am taking into consideration a prime Henry vs Prime Benoit and I think Prime Benoit wins because he was a bigger deal and got a bigger rocket up his ass to the moon than Henry did. Henry's run did not amount to a ME Mania win and i.e is the be all end all in the WWE for any superstar burning under the radar. Henry was dominant but he wouldn't beat Benoit.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Some accolades\titles of Chris Benoit:


ECW World Tag Team Championship
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Super J Cup (1994)
Top/Best of the Super Juniors (1993, 1995)
Super Grade Junior Heavyweight Tag League (1994)
UWA/NJPW Light Heavyweight Championship (1991)
WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
WCW World Heavyweight Championship
WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times)
WCW World Television Championship (3 times)
World Heavyweight Championship
WWE Tag Team Championship
WWE United States Championship (3 times)
WWF/E Intercontinental Championship (4 times)
WWF/E World Tag Team Championship (3 times)
Royal Rumble (2004)

So what you are trying say is that this is a guy who needs some type of title to get the slightest bit over or this is a guy that promoters lose interest in quickly? Or both?

I'm guessing both.

...and Mark Henry:

ECW Championship
World Heavyweight Championship
WWF European Championship



Oh. Well now that certainly is a lopsided comparative list now isnt it. Guess that takes care of the 'career' argument.

Don't forget the times in Benoit's career where he walked out on the company that paid him and missed an event to murder two people and kill himself. I mean if we are talking about career accomplishments.

Seriously, I don't know if Benoit is more likely jump to a tournament on pwinsider after the first round or murder some girl scouts.

Now lets look at the actual matches they have had against eachother.


Chris Benoit eliminated Mark Henry in the 2004 Royal Rumble.

Show me in the specs where it says this is some type of Battle Royal Match.

Benoit makes Henry tap out on Raw in under 3 minutes.

Am I supposed to vote for Shelton Benjamin over HHH as well?

No contest finish on Smackdown in 2006 because Henry refuses to bring the fight back in the ring.

So with Benoit closer to his prime and Henry still five years from his, they draw. I agree Henry is better.