WCW vs WWE: Chris Benoit

[Ruthless-RKO]

The Rabid Wolverine, the Canadian Crippler...yes he was simply amazing, the best technical wrestler at the time...Chris Benoit...

He was in the WCW from 1992-1993, 1995-2000,
WWF/E from 2000-2007 (Sadly, his death)

Was he clever? He and the Radicalz got out of WCW before they went down...also because he wasn't given a fair opportunity...

He had great feuds...In WCW: Dean Malenko, DDP, Booker T, Bret Hart, Kevin Sullivan and Jeff Jarrett..

In WWF/E: The Rock, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Steve Austin, Ric Flair, Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero, Team Angle, Rhyno, A-Train, Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Edge, Orlando Jordan, Booker T & Sharmell, John Bradshaw Layfield, Chavo Guerrero and Montel V. Porter..

Championships and Accomplishments
WCW
2- time WCW United States Heavyweight Championship
1- time WCW World Heavyweight Championship
2-time WCW World Tag Team Championship w/ with Dean Malenko (1) and Perry Saturn (1)
3-time WCW World Television Championship

WWF/E
1-time World Heavyweight Championship
1-time WWE Tag Team Championship w/ with Kurt Angle (First)
3-time WWE United States Championship
4-time WWF/E Intercontinental Championship
3-time WWF/E World Tag Team Championship w/ with Chris Jericho (1) and Edge (2)
Royal Rumble Winner (2004)

What would you say: Chris Benoit in WCW or WWF/E??

Im going to have to go with WWF/E, not only because he had more championship success, but because we really got to see who the rabid wolverine was...WCW wasn't a good time for him, you had the veterans at the time, such as nWo, Bret Hart, Luger, Sting, Macho Man etc.. and because of these guys, you had other great wrestlers such as Benoit, Guerrero who wern't getting their chances...He had arguably one of the greatest wrestlemania moments when he won the World title when Eddie came out...truelly a memorable moment...

What would you say??

Do not bring his personal life into this thread...keep it on topic..thank-you..

 

[Who is Going to Win]

Yes chris benoit was in WCW, he has won the title once, but left because he was left at the back seat for to long, I have to say WWE because WCW barley pushed him, they want to push the old as fuck tall guys like hogan and nash...

 

[TellMeWhy]

I'm going to say WCW. WCW was the 1st place to give Benoit his platform, where he was able to show his skills and develop his persona as the rabid Wolverine and the crippler. He transferred that same persona later to the WWE and was a success but his run in WCW was tremendous. He was 1 of the young guys that WCW built slowly for years and put a lot into and became champ on his last night there. I believe if he stayed with the company, they could've remained in business. But without his WCW run, I don't believe he could've had a successful WWE run, so I say WCW.

 

[gers09]

has to be wwe they gave him a real push to a top star wcw never really did that yes he won the world belt in wcw but who didnt where in wwe you need to work and get a real push to be the top champ

 

[vampirek]

I'm going to say WCW. WCW was the 1st place to give Benoit his platform, where he was able to show his skills and develop his persona as the rabid Wolverine and the crippler. He transferred that same persona later to the WWE and was a success but his run in WCW was tremendous. He was 1 of the young guys that WCW built slowly for years and put a lot into and became champ on his last night there. I believe if he stayed with the company, they could've remained in business. But without his WCW run, I don't believe he could've had a successful WWE run, so I say WCW.

Please don't make me laugh, what an idiotic comment to make. Benoit wouldn't have saved WCW at all.
Benoit did a lot more during his WWE run, whereas in WCW they misused him and placed him in a backseat for far too long.

 

[Ferbian]

Chris Benoit accomplished a lot in both companies.

But the ultimate place for him to be properly acknowledged was WWE, WCW only gave him the world championship as a cheap way of trying to make him stay, and therefore he only held the championship for one night, as opposed to WWE where he held it for a few months before dropping it to a future star.

Chris Benoit has won his share of championships, and he's been a great wrestler for the most of it, but his accomplishes in WWE exceeds WCW, where he was the first one to win a Wrestlemania main event through submission, submitting Triple H of all people, he won the Royal Rumble as one of two wrestlers to enter as number one and win it, a feature he's sharing with Shawn Michaels of all people.

Therefore my vote goes to WWE.

 

[Buster]

First I’ll name my choice, WCW.

The truth was Benoit was always on the up in WCW.

He started out in the cruiserweight division.

He was a member of the Four Horsemen.

He made the transition from cruiserweight to feuding over mid-card titles.

In my opinion he was one of the truly developed WCW stars, along with Booker T, DDP and Chris Jericho. While he appeared in ECW, his name was made in WCW. Also he wasn’t given a cheap superman push like Goldberg was.

He even got given the WCW championship the night before he left, yet he receives next to no flak compared to what Bret Hart gets.

My point being: who really comes into WWE as a new wrestler or gimmick and immediately makes a dent in the main event scene? With the exception of Undertaker, Kane, Lesnar, and possibly Sheamus EVERYONE has to go through the mid-card process- Cena? Orton? Austin? The Rock? HHH? Bret Hart? Shaun Michaels? Yep.

This mid-card process for WWE stars was what Benoit's WCW career was for him and by no means was he stopped from developing and rising to prominence (no matter how the latest WWE DVD's spin it).

In my opinion he did incredibly well to get noticed amongst the sea of white & black on a heavily saturated roster considering he didn’t have much of a gimmick or look.

As for comparing his matches in WWE to those in WCW, I suppose it depends on what you prefer.

I could argue that his matches in WCW consisted of a more pure technical style of wrestling, they certainly were better for his health.

WWE encouraged a lot of chair shots to the head and ladder use, head butts from ladders etc that really do not contribute to a wrestling match. These things are not needed to make a good Benoit match.

The reason he got the chance in WWF was because he was "that WCW guy".

He got his only 1v1 ppv heavyweight title match in the year 2000 at Fully Loaded (and subsequently his only one till 2003) because he was a recent WCW champion.

He really didn’t get a real WWE main event push till after his long injury, which he came back from roided to the hilt.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Definitely the WWE, not a doubt in my mind. When Benoit was in WCW, he was one of the workhorses that fans knew they could watch and expect to see a good match from him. Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and a few others were the wrestlers that made up most of the quality wrestling content seen in WCW in the mid to late 90s. The big thing in WCW was the nWo of course but, in my opinion, most of the matches that came out of the big stars in WCW were crap. Sure, Benoit would be thrown an occassional title run that wasn't all that memorable. He was WCW World Heavyweight Champion for a day, and even then the title run was a cheap attempt at trying to get him to stay, his two runs with the United States Championship in WCW was totally forgettable. They lasted a combined 35 days with the last run being for a day. His two runs as a WCW World Tag Team Champion lasted a combined total of 18 days and his runs as tv champ lasted 43 days with the first two runs lasting a day each. Benoit's title runs in WCW were a joke and came about during a time when WCW was really going down hill in every aspect. The simple truth is that WCW held Chris Benoit down and that's a huge reason why he left.

The WWE actually used Benoit to his potential, they gave him opportunities to really show what he could do while, simultaneously, making both him and fans feel like that he mattered. Benoit did have some high profile feuds in the WWE and did make it to a main event level star. His win of the World Heavyweight Championship at WM 20 was a helluva moment and I think it meant a lot to him. It sure as hell seemed like it after he won it. His title run was a respectable 154 days, which was longer than all the reigns he had with all of his WCW titles combined. His run as one half of the first WWE Tag Team Champions was shit and lasted only 16 days but, hey, he was the first. His runs as half of the World Tag Team Champions lasted 71 days. His tag team career isn't much to speak of, granted, but it's a lot more than he got in WCW. He was IC champ for 132 days. His reigns as United States Champion in the WWE lasted a respectable total of 332 days, with his last one lasting 222.

So, in the end Chris Benoit was a champion during his time in the WWE for a total of 705 days, wrestled in headlining feuds, won the Royal Rumble in 2004, headlined WrestleMania the same year and walked away from it as World Heavyweight Champion. In WCW, Benoit was generally assigned to wrestle and keep his mouth shut, was a champion for a grand total of 97 days and generally held back by wrestlers that generally didn't have a tenth of his ability inside the ring.

So, yeah, I'm definitely sticking with the WWE.

 

[nightmare]

yes alot of eventual wcw guys got a very great opportunity in wwf\e. they came in and came up very fast. the reason is that vince knew they were stars and wcw was making the fatal mistake of not using them. in wcw at the time if you werent nash\hogan etc, you werent going anywhere (with the exception of sting\goldberg and few others)

benoit in wwe\f definately had the edge. imo, giving benoit the wcw title in an attempt to keep him was childish and a slap in the face of a great wrestler. in no way would wcw still be here if chris stayed.

benoit had some great matches in wcw (vs bret for the owen tribute, ddp, booker, malenko) but he shined in wwf\e. his battles with and against kurt angle are still awesome to this day. going toe 2 toe with the game, winning the rumble, and the win at wm. when him and eddie stood side by side with the titles, that was pure history.

benoit definately was more utilized and appreciated with vince& co. the fans finally got to see him at his best and didnt have to see him pushed aside for bischoff's buddies. if he was still around today he would have added even more great memories for us to argue over with our friends.

 

[harrythem]

I'd say the WWE as well as that's where he really went over the top. He was always dependable in WCW but, for various reasons (politics and his own lack of personality) he never had a shot of doing a Goldberg and bulldozing his way into the highly political main event area.

Strange thing though, I'd have added ECW to the choices as well as, although he wasn't there for the longest time, it was ECW that really got him noticed on a national level and the whole WWE and WCW runs might never have happened if Paul Heyman hadn't had the vision to let him go out there and do what he did best.

 

[UFOcalling]

I voted WWF, just because he finally managed to "rise to the top" there. This was a hard decision to make, at least for me. Now I wish I would have voted WCW, just because of all the memories that came flooding back of the great matches he had there before leaving for the WWF.

Originally Posted by Buster
This mid-card process for WWE stars was what Benoit's WCW career was for him and by no means was he stopped from developing and rising to prominence (no matter how the latest WWE DVD's spin it).

Perfectly said. I couldn't have said this better myself, Buster. I really enjoyed Benoit's time in WCW...this thread had me thinking about some of my all-time favorite Benoit matches, and the ones that jog my memory the most all happened in WCW.

The first clear memory I have of Benoit in WCW is the "best of seven" series of matches between Booker T and Benoit. These matches were to determine who would get a TV-Title shot against Fit Finlay (Finlay). Those matches were outstanding, and that was right around the time I first started to really like Benoit.

Benoit vs. Malenko was always amazing. They had some stellar technical matches in WCW, and were also great tagging together as members of the Four Horsemen.

Soon after Owen Hart's untimely death (man, that was so sad), Bret Hart & Benoit had a fantastic match in Owen's honor (a tribute match). That match was fucking incredible. Bret ultimately won the match, and they got a standing ovation for their combined-effort that night. One of my favorite matches for both Bret and Benoit.

I saved my absolute favorite memory of Benoit in WCW for last: this was a match he had on Nitro back in 1999 against David Flair for the United States Championship. The details are a little fuzzy in my head, but I believe the title was "given" to David by Ric Flair...Ric was a WCW "commissioner" at the time? I could be wrong on the specifics, but it was some bullshit like that. Benoit was SOOOO stiff with David during the match, and I fucking LOVED it. Benoit essentially gave David a wrestling lesson on live TV that night.

Everyone hated seeing the title on David Flair, since the guy was green as a gourd. Everyone knew that David only had a WCW-contract because of who his Dad was (is), and then he gets to carry the US Title around as well? Show me anyone who says that David Flair deserved the US Title, and I'll show you a liar. Benoit totally kicked the shit out of him that night, and it was amazing. Of course, Benoit won the US-Title that night; a title that Benoit completely deserved and should have won long before that match.

That was his first United States Title reign in WCW, if I'm not mistaken. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on that point, I'd actually really love to know whether or not this was Benoit's first time holding the US Title. It wasn't a particularly long or memorable reign, but the match Benoit had to win the title was momentous. It was the real start of a push in the right direction for Benoit...too bad for the WCW higher-ups that he abandoned them for the WWF a little more than a year later, but they should have treated him better (along with most of their roster that never got a fair-shake). It was their own damn fault, they could have prevented him from leaving if they'd played their cards right.

Edit:

Found a video of the match between Benoit and Flair for the US Title. Again, one of my favorite Benoit matches. The match wasn't as stiff as I remembered (hell, I last saw the match when it originally aired back in 1999), but some of those chops that Benoit gave David were pretty vicious. Benoit definitely didn't take it easy on him.

Can't believe that David Flair was dating Torrie Wilson (for real!) back then (at least that's what I remember reading on the internet around the time of that match). There's another thing he didn't deserve...he was only able to date Torrie because of his famous Dad. Lucky little shit, she was hot as hell (as evidenced by this video).

Here's the video-link, for those interested in watching:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6ajx3_chris-benoit-vs-david-flair-u-s-tit_sport

 

[Reddannihilation]

has to be wwe they gave him a real push to a top star wcw never really did that yes he won the world belt in wcw but who didnt where in wwe you need to work and get a real push to be the top champ

Gotta love the opinions of people who never watched WCW, if I remember correctly the WWE gave their world title to a guy who'd been on RAW for a month and a guy who was a jobber the begining of this year. Outside Russo and Arquete every WCW champion was a wrestler who earned their reign.

For Benoit I actually prefer his WCW time, people can point out how short his title reigns were, but I care more about match quality. Not to mention that he left WCW and spent his first 3-4 years in WWE in the exact same spot as WCW a midcarder, feuding for the IC title and the tag titles. He won the world title once in WWE lost it and went back to the mid-card.

Some people say he was underused in WCW, I honestly don't see how the WWE used him in some great manner. For me Benoit in WCW was much more interesting, I tuned into WCW to watch his matches, I thought that when he won the WCW title it was going to bring a new face into the WCW main event instead Benoit left for the WWE and spent years trying to get back to that point as a main eventer and he got 6 months of it before going back to the midcard. If he'd stayed in WCW I think he might've become a top-tier star.

 

[ZackPack82]

I think WWE is where he had a more Hall of Fame worthy career. I honestly didn't notice as much as I probably should have in WCW. Let's face it, Bischoff and his writing team did not know how to use talent like Benoit or any other members of the Radicalz for that matter. WWE gave him a fair shake, in my opinion. He rose to the top in WWE. So yeah, I'd definitely go with WWE Chris Benoit

 

[TellMeWhy]

Please don't make me laugh, what an idiotic comment to make. Benoit wouldn't have saved WCW at all.
Benoit did a lot more during his WWE run, whereas in WCW they misused him and placed him in a backseat for far too long.

Sure they misused Benoit, I guess that's why Benoit was a horsemen, got a victory over Bret Hart and many main event level guys. I guess Benoit being held back for so long is why he finally won the belt in the end and decided to ditch that world title reign. All I'm saying is that Benoit with the title could've brought some interest to WCW and made up for the competitiveness and new blood that WCW neededd desperately in their world title scene at the time.

 

[Davi323]

WWE, for the same reasons as others have mentioned...Benoit was good in WCW, and WCW refused to acknowledge that. They kept him at a midcard level, even though everyone who watched him wrestle knew he was better than that. But, like a lot of WCW wrestlers, he got lost in the shuffle behind Hogan, Flair, Sting and the nWo. The WWE gave him the platform and the opportunity to shine that he didn't have in WCW.