Who's More At Fault: Benoit's Title Reign

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Chris Benoit won the Royal Rumble as a Smackdown superstar and went over to Raw to challenge its champion which I think is the only time that happened or vice versa since the brand split (2009 is a little fuzzy). He went on to win his first world championship at Wrestlemania 20 in an emotional moment beating both Triple H and Shawn Michaels. He went on to hold the title for five months before losing to Randy Orton at Summerslam. Chris Benoit's title reign is something that I felt has always been looked down on due to the circumstances surrounding it and I'm not talking about his death. I'm going to look at his title reign from two different sides: Benoit's and the person he beat, HHH's. I'm going to make a case for as why both are at fault and come up with a verdict and ways I would have changed the outcome.

Chris Benoit
Benoit is one of my three favorite wrestlers of all time along with RVD and Mysterio so I do hold him in high regard. Most judge how great someone is by their wrestling ability but others hold some credence in talking on the mic. To some, Benoit was vanilla. He had no character and had no personality. He wasn't a draw and only got the title because he was in the business for so long. He couldn't move the meter like HHH or HBK could so as soon as he lost the title, he went right back to the midcard where he belonged. People paid more attention to a non-title feud then the matches Benoit had. He's boring. Get him out.

HHH
HHH was just a glory hog from 2003-2005. In 2003, he was the WCW Wrecking Machine. He feuded with Steiner, Booker T, Kevin Nash, and Goldberg in which the matches were mediocre to criminal. Chris Jericho was just a floundering heel with no direction. HHH was the top guy and only let his friend, HBK, get any other top billing. Even EUGENE, a wrestler with a mentally handicapped gimmick, got more shine then Benoit when he feuded with HHH again. Let's look at Benoit's reign more closely.

Wrestlemania 20: He beat HHH and HBK but it should have been only HHH. Why was HBK in the match? He had his chance to win the title at the Royal Rumble but blew it. HBK stuck his nose where it didn't belong.

Backlash: No surprise that it was a rematch that saw Benoit make HBK tap out. If only it was to the Sharpshooter.

Bad Blood: He and Kane had what was arguably the best non-Undertaker match of Kane's career. The story was awesome as Kane kept powering out of the crossface in previous encounters so he knew he had the upper hand going to the match because he didn't have to change his routine. Benoit still found a way to win but guess what overshadowed it? You guessed it. HHH and HBK having one of the worst HIAC matches ever. It was 45 minutes long and felt more like a street fight. HHH and HBK stealing the spotlight again.

Vengeance: Oh, joy. It's Benoit and HHH again this time with an addition of Eugene. It was about HHH's fake friendship with Eugene more than it was about Benoit and the title. And of course Eugene had to get himself involved in the match because the match just sucked with Benoit and HHH in it.

Summerslam: Lost to Randy Orton in a great match while HHH spent 20 minutes beating up Eugene. And to no one's surprise, HHH turned on Orton and beat him for the title a month later. Le gasp.

My Verdict
I believe that HHH was more at fault than Benoit and here's how I feel. Benoit is one of few that could get over by his in-ring ability and he holds a special place in my wrestling heart for that. His intensity was his gimmick. He was not a wordsmith but he didn't need to be because his wrestling did all the talking he could ever do by picking up a microphone. Benoit never got that fair chance to show us why he deserved to be a champion and could have had another title reign down the road. It was sad to me that Benoit was rarely the main focus of a feud other than his one with Kane. It was always about HHH and HBK whose matches were average for the most part.

The hard part is how I would have changed that. One of my plans was to have the same matches they had at Wrestlemania, Backlash, and Bad Blood. I would have liked to have seen Flair vs. Benoit at Vengeance. Two great ring veterans going at it would have been awesome. The other options on Raw was basically Chris Jericho and that was it. A Jericho vs. Benoit match would be kickass as well given their history together and various matches for midcard titles but never for the big one.

So who is more at fault: HHH or Benoit?

How would you have changed Benoit's title reign if any?

 

[a member of wwe universe]

Benoit's reign was never meant to be huge. The title was as a prop, a life time achievement award, which he deserved. You must think back HHH was still the face of RAW hogging the main event spotlight. There was no way HHH wouldve taken a back seat without being in the spotlight. Benoit was never positioned to be that top worldd title holder competing in a high profile match. Lets face the entire time it was overshadowed by HHH and HBK feud.

Still i find it hard to get over the fact that benoit was able to beat HBK and HHH twice in consecutive months and yet orton, a young gun, was able to beat him cleanly.

With that said obviously it was HHH at fault for benoit's lackluster reign. Benoit could have been featured more prominently if it wasnt the hbk/hhh feud

Chris jericho wouldnt have recieved a one on one world title because he was also underutilized by wwe either. The guy did not receive a one on one title shot until 2005 summerslam against cena.

 

[obamartins]

The person above me put it perfectly...it was a life time achievement award, which he deserved.

The fact is this WWE needed fresh faces on top & they felt they had enough star power on the rest of the card to hide Benoit's short cummings & lack of drawing power....hence HBK being added to Wrestlemania 20 & Backlash Main Events plus Benoit vs. Kane being the undercard match of Badd Blood furthermore why he wasn't the focus of RAW.

Come to think of it Benoit was bascially a trasitional champion until WWE built up Orton & Cena....then later Batista when they screwed up Orton's face turn & needed a new Main Event for Wrestlemania 21.

 

[goukuma]

to be honest i blame neither one. i blame vince and creative. it was a really odd time in the wwe for a good few years since the purchase of wcw. there was no competition so it seemed vince didnt know what to do with his product. triple h was heavily pushed for a few years kinda filling the void left by the rock and stone cold. vince had very little faith in guys like benoit, jericho, booker t, rvd, kane, eddie guerrero, and even jbl. so he stuck to a safe bet with triple h. during benoit's run, vince still had little faith but it seemed it benoit would have another shot at greatness if his life wasnt cut short. jericho wouldnt be a legit title holder till years later. booker t woudnt be champ again for a few years till he had that obnoxious king booker gimmick. rvd would have to wait a few year as well, just too bad he fucked that up. as we know kane wouldnt get another legit chance till last year. eddie guerrero and jbl seemed to have proven themselves to vince, too bad the both of them only had one title reign each. it took guerrero to convince vince to give jbl a shot.

the addition of shawn michaels to the wm20 match was because vince didnt think simply having triple h vs benoit was big enough to warrant a wm main event. the backlash main event should have been against triple h or shawn michaels, not both of them again. benoit's match with kane was great. the whole triple h and eugene storyline was stupid and really overshadowed a lot of things that was going on in the wwe at the time. again due to lack of faith from vince. i dont think benoit should ever had lost to randy orton. it was a great match but i think vince wanted orton to win so he would be the youngest champion ever as opposed to lesnar who left on bad terms with vince.

the only things i would change with his reign would be to keep his match with triple h one on one at wm, followed by the rematch at backlash. have a match with shawn michaels at bad blood, then at vengeance have a match with kane. summerslam you would have benoit vs jericho or if not that then perhaps a fatal 4 way with benoit, orton, rvd, and jericho. then have benoit vs jericho at the following ppv, then have orton vs benoit but orton loses. this will lead to benoit vs triple h by survivor series and triple h can win back the title.

 

[Atrue1onewo1f]

Correction OP, HBK Did Tap out to the sharpshooter.... Anyways.... The other thing is if you payed attention HBK did not blow the Last Man Standing match. Also, If you noticed the reason they added Trips to the match was so they could Build up for the HIAC Match. (Which was the greatest of all time and still is.)

Here was the Build Up.

Benoit wins at 'Mania, and wins at Backlash. which leads to His one on one with HBK. Trips screws HBK. Benoit Retains. They Have a 20 man Battle royal for the number one contender at Bad Blood, HBK screws Trips and Kane wins. Which leads to hell in a cell.

So the thing was... Benoit winning was only a set up for the bigger picture HBK/HHH Hell In a Cell So Its really No one's fault and everyone benefited form it as well.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Correction OP, HBK Did Tap out to the sharpshooter.... Anyways.... The other thing is if you payed attention HBK did not blow the Last Man Standing match. Also, If you noticed the reason they added Trips to the match was so they could Build up for the HIAC Match. (Which was the greatest of all time and still is.)

Which match did they add HHH in so I'm thinking you must mean HBK. There was plenty of buildup after Backlash for HHH and HBK. HHH interfered in the world title match on Raw between HBK and Benoit and the battle royal to determine who would face Benoit at Bad Blood saw HBK causing HHH to be eliminated. That HIAC doesn't come close to being the greatest and is in my bottom three. How anyone can find that match great is still beyond me.

 

[WunNightStan619]

Omg im damn sick and tired of people always blaming HHH for everyone elses short comings. If Benoit was able to carry the company or have the charisma it takes the be the face of the WWE his title reign would have been better. HHH got the attention and glory during this time because he was dare-say the ONLY person capable of doing so at this time. Benoit was a great wrestler but thats about it. He was boring, plain and simple. HBK and HHH were the best around at the time so of course the are gonna get the attention, and the spotlight..they deserved it...Quit blaming HHH, its really getting old

 

[WWE4EVA]

I agree it is ridiculous to blame triple h for being a hot selling ticket. Chris Benoit knew what would be needed to keep him at the top spot and he knew he didnt have all of it. Chris Benoit was a hell of a wrestler but he wasnt a big draw. Vince knew he had guarenteed money with HHH and Shawn. As a business savy person, wouldnt u make that ur main event? I would.

 

[King Patrick Star]

I think Chris Benoit should have stayed on Smackdown and challenged Eddie Guerrero for the WWE Championship. I wouldn’t mind the WM XX Triple Threat match stipulation used for the Blue Brand instead of the Red Brand and include Kurt Angle in the Main Event. This could have topped the Angle / Benoit / Jericho match for the Euro-Continental Titles.

Triple H and Shawn Michaels could have had their “Clique…Kliq…Boom!!” match for the World Title and pay tribute to the 15 year anniversary of the “Mega Powers Explode!!” event.

Back to Benoit. He could have feuded with the likes of Eddie, JBL, The Undertaker, Booker T., The Big Show, Kurt Angle, and John Cena. I’m not saying Benoit should have been WWE Champion from WM XX to WM 21, but it doesn’t sound as bad as what happened over on Mondays.