Will Chris Benoit ever be inducted in the the WWE Hall of Fame?

[Caustic]

Its Hall of Fame inductee season, and as I was watching the list grow, and I had a thought.

Will Chris Benoit ever be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame? Does he deserve it? Will his career forever be buried and overshadowed by his last terrible act in life?

He was a workhorse, and there was a time when WWE gave him the ball to run with. He even passed the ball to Randy Orton. There might have been another title Reign in his future (even an ECW title reign, but I guess that means nothing now) before his suicide and the murders.

Chris has a long history in wrestling. He has a very long list of title victories and credits. More than many of the superstars who are getting inducted. Not just that, he has many memorable matches, bumps and spots. His reckless diving headbutts were always one of the insane highlights of the night.

His mic skills weren't the best, and he was criticized for being robot-like and charisma-less at times. But eventually he won the fans over. Not everyone, but there was definitely the nod of respect given to him. He could wrestle.

Then that dreadful and terrible act shattered everything. Was all respect for who he was as a wrestler thrown away at the same time?

I don't see his name even being considered as a HoF inductee for at least another 5 years, because the murders are still fresh in everyone's memories. But if WWE points out that it is honoring the man that they knew, and not the murderer he was in the last day, will that ever make a difference?

 

[daddyJ_t]

i honestly dont believe he will ever be inducted due to the murders. he was an extremely talented performer, but as u saw when the truth came out about wat happened, the wwe completely seperated itself from him and even edited out his exxsistance from damn near everything they own. after all the trouble about roid use, i highly think it unlikely to induct a murderer. his wife is more likely to be inducted for her manager skills as aposed to him after what happened

 

[Max Moon]

This will NEVER happen. Ever. He killed two people. One of which was his SON! I don't get this idea of holding on to any respect for him. Good wrestler? Yes. Well liked guy? Sure. But come on, the dude's a monster. You'll never ever be able to prove anyone otherwise. And as for editing him out of past matches and pretending he never existed; we all should.

 

[chismo16]

NEVER...The media would destroy the WWE for even thinking about it. WWE would get trashed. Yes he was a good wrestler but sometimes you do something outside of your sport that is so bad, you dont deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.

 

[Poɘt]

Yeah I don't see it ever happening. The whole issue seems too big to make an exception for. While Benoit was a great in-ring talent, I wouldn't blame WWE (or any wrestling promotion) for never speaking his name ever again.

Even 5 years from now is too soon to act as if his alleged actions are in the past. I can't imagine any ammount of time going by that would allow Chris Benoit to be mentioned in any positive light.

I really do believe that no matter how great we all felt he was, his alleged actions do wipe away all his attributes. Wrestling legacy takes a backseat when a man does what Benoit allegedly did. I say allegedly because I don't really know what happen, and I'm not sure anyone does. I've always thought it was odd that a man who loved wrestling would suddenly decide to leave a wrestling event to go commit such an act to his own wife and child. It's never added up to me, but nevertheless it happen and I can't imagine the wrestling world ever disregarding it when thinking of legends of wrestling.

 

[Poɘt]

There really is no "allegedly". It's been proven.

Considering the way the crime appeared to be commited, it's not that impossible for all the evidence to have been placed to make it appear he did it. Because as I said, the idea that a man who many say was so in love with wrestling would ditch a PPV event in which he was in a title match to go all the way home and kill his wife and child for no other reason than he was on over drive due to drugs; it just sounds pretty odd and too easy to believe.

Nevertheless the consensus is that he did the crime, and not only will he never be in the WWE HOF, but he may never be spoken about any positive way in the wrestling world again. When you consider he had to be aware that the industry he loved so much would abandon him if he did such a thing, makes it even more odd that he would go through with it.

 

[Rhonda Rousey's Sports Bra]

NEVER EVER EVER.. 1st of all his career wasn't really hall of fame caliber, if the WWE hof was like the baseball hall of fame he would be one of those guys that gets in in maybe his last year of eligibility, but the WWE hof is more like you did some good for the company and you're still in good terms with Vince or you were a huge deal in wrestling period. 2nd the man MURDERED his SON AND WIFE before hanging himself, the WWE has already severed all ties with everything he did so why honor it a few years down the road.

 

[LSN80]

Not a chance. Id put money on it, in fact. When you killl your wife, son, and then yourself, that's the lasting image the general public have of him. Can you imagine WWE announcing, WWE is proud to induct Chris Benoit into the HOF. The press would never let WWE be proud of a man that murdered his family and then committed suicide.

Based on accomplishments alone, he deserves it. But the last image non-wrestling fans have, including media, is of his murde/suicide. People thought the Jerry Springer segment last week wqs low brow? Imagine the reaction to the induction of A murderer into the Hall of Fame. Vince and co. may be alot of things, but they're not stupid. Benoit belongs based on his wrestling career, but he'll never make the hall because of his final actions. Nor should he because of them.

 

[d_henderson1810]

There really is no "allegedly". It's been proven.

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What's been proven? He never faced trial. What ever happened to "innocent until proven guilty"? He can't be proven guilty or not guilty, because he took his own life.

Look, I'm not saying he didn't do it. I think he probably did, considering all the evidence. But the evidence has never truly been tested, because there can't be a court-case. There are no witnesses either, so all anyone is stuck with is probable guilt.

You can't just say that he's guilty because the police say so. Many times, innocent people are suspected of crime by police. According to statistics, 90% of murders are committed by a family or friend, so the police always suspect them first. In this case, they would immediately suspect Benoit, and have no reason to think otherwise. But again, the police aren't perfect. Also, a couple of things don't add up. Firstly, evidence was apparently tampered with, which could have affected the investigation. Also, Kevin Sullivan, Nancy's ex-husband, who would normally be a suspect, was not even interviewed by police. Why not at least check his alibi? I'm not accussing Sullivan, but it seems that the cops had already made up their mind.

I just hope that if any new evidence, or new twists in the case emerge, the police will investigate it, rather than write it off as just a "wrestler" dying.

Finally, would you say the same thing if it were Eddie Guerrero, or "Stone Cold" Steve Austin , or some other "over" wrestler. I think that fans are quick to believe the story too, because it is a "boring, lesser" wrestler, who they weren't as emotionally invested in as much.

To answer the original question,no, he won't be in the Hall-Of-Fame. Hell, if it wasn't for winning the Rumble and the title at WMXX, he probably wouldn't get that recognition regardless.

Vince is editing Benoit out of everything, not as a concerned citizen, but I suspect as retaliation to the embarrassment the incident caused in exposing the WWE's lax attitude towards drug use, and its sham Wellness Policy.

 

[TheHardyBoyz]

There's No Freakin Way He'd Get Inducted, I Wish He Did Because Of What He Did He In His Career, He Was One Of My Favourite Wrestlers From Winning The U.S Championship To Winning The World HeavyWeight Championship At Wrestlemania, WWE Should Not Cut Him Out Of Every Match Or Every Profile That's On Their Website Its Totally Disrepectful To All Of His Fans, He Should Be Remembered For What He Did In His Wrestling Career Rather Than The Murders, I Truely Think He Deserves To Be Apart Of History And That Is To Be In The HOF

 

[Max Moon]

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What's been proven? He never faced trial. What ever happened to "innocent until proven guilty"? He can't be proven guilty or not guilty, because he took his own life.

Look, I'm not saying he didn't do it. I think he probably did, considering all the evidence. But the evidence has never truly been tested, because there can't be a court-case. There are no witnesses either, so all anyone is stuck with is probable guilt.

You can't just say that he's guilty because the police say so. Many times, innocent people are suspected of crime by police. According to statistics, 90% of murders are committed by a family or friend, so the police always suspect them first. In this case, they would immediately suspect Benoit, and have no reason to think otherwise. But again, the police aren't perfect. Also, a couple of things don't add up. Firstly, evidence was apparently tampered with, which could have affected the investigation. Also, Kevin Sullivan, Nancy's ex-husband, who would normally be a suspect, was not even interviewed by police. Why not at least check his alibi? I'm not accussing Sullivan, but it seems that the cops had already made up their mind.

I just hope that if any new evidence, or new twists in the case emerge, the police will investigate it, rather than write it off as just a "wrestler" dying.

Finally, would you say the same thing if it were Eddie Guerrero, or "Stone Cold" Steve Austin , or some other "over" wrestler. I think that fans are quick to believe the story too, because it is a "boring, lesser" wrestler, who they weren't as emotionally invested in as much.

To answer the original question,no, he won't be in the Hall-Of-Fame. Hell, if it wasn't for winning the Rumble and the title at WMXX, he probably wouldn't get that recognition regardless.

Vince is editing Benoit out of everything, not as a concerned citizen, but I suspect as retaliation to the embarrassment the incident caused in exposing the WWE's lax attitude towards drug use, and its sham Wellness Policy.

Dude. He strangled his son with his bare hands! Fingerprints! Whoops, I mean someone cut off his fingers and killed his son the put them back on. I understand the cops are lazy or whatever, but when you say the word fingerprints, I believe you.

Also, Benoit was my favorite wrestler at the time. But unfortunately he killed his family. Fact.

 

[XgringolocoX]

No Fucking Way. I was a big fan of his..then this piece of shit coward did what he did. Benoit should NEVER....and I mean NEVER EVER get any praise for anything that he did, period.
His final acts were so insanly horrible that it wipes out anything else. I wouldn't care if the guy cured Aids, Cancer, and all STDs....he's a piece of shit for what he did.

 

[Brent.Elsley]

LOL. I had to reply to this thread. The fact that someone created a thread tossing out the possibility of Benoit being put into the hall of fame is a joke. I could go on and on about how he murdered two people and then cowardly took his own life instead of facing the consequences but I won't. I will simply say... based on what happened... Chris Benoit never was. That's how it's going to be. The past is the past and the WWE will move on just like they always do. Benoit basically never existed.

It's sad anyone would even consider thinking about him in the hall of fame. Look at this example, if Tiger Woods murdered his wife in the scandal he's in right now do you think he'd ever ever be mentioned again as THE greatest golfer of all time? Never! Not gonna happen. Same thing with Benoit. There is a fine line in "real life" where it goes beyond wrestling. Fact is, wrestling was Benoit's job, his career, but he brutally killed two people. Doesn't matter how or why or what was mentally wrong with him. He did it. He basically was "blood in the WWE bath tub that can easily be drained and was". This is clearly a dead issue. Fan of him or not. Talk of him should now and will now go on as "Chris who?"

 

[only1soe]

I would say he would never get in the WWE HOF as we know of it today. If WWE ever went under like NWA did maybe its possible if the right type of renegade mind came through and tried to put him as a publicity stunt.

One poster said Benoit did not have an in ring HOF career and i totally disagree with that. I would argue his japan, ecw, and wcw days alone make him more worthy than someone like Tony Atlas.

Putting Benoit into a HOF is just bad for business and thats why Vince would never do it. Paul Haymen is the only person in the world that could make something like that work and that maybe even a stretch.

 

[JJohns]

Never gonna happen. Because no matter how you try to do it, there is no way you're ever going to separate the murder/suicide from Chris Benoit's legacy. Especially with WWE being PG, they wouldn't risk the controversy to induct him, and even if this was still the Attitude Era, where they even did angles involving Big Show's "Dead Father", it's just too real for WWE to do it.

If we could separate the memory of what he did from the rest of his legacy, and we were able to induct Chris Benoit, the wrestler, even without the World Title reign, he had a Hall of Fame career.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

i'd say his career was worthy of being in the hall of fame if you don't take into account the circumstances of his death... he did win the world title at the 20th Wrestlemania which is a big deal, also in the first triple threat at mania for a title. He's had numerous titles and took place in many big matches. He had the best of 7 with Booker T, a great Owen Hart tribute, and he was a royal rumble winner lasting through everyone. Also, arguably his departure along with eddie malenko and saturn (the Radicalz) helped shift the balance of power from WCW to WWE during the Monday Night Wars... yes i said arguably, but i do believe that was a huge shot to WCW, it just wasnt realized till much later. All in all his career is hall worthy. However, again, his career is over shadowed by his crime, it'll be hard to put a guy in the hall of fame who exposes the very dark side of wrestling. I truly believe had he not committed suicide as well and went to trial, the damage to his brain would prove to be so severe as to negate his culpability for the crime. This is great for clearing the Benoit name, but very bad for the wrestling industry. So its a lose lose for the chances of Benoit coming to the hall even if post mortum its shown that his brain was damaged too much to be held liable for the crime.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

Not a CHANCE in hell. This will NEVER happen. I have never been so sure of anything in my ENTIRE life. He was a great wrestler, was one of my all time favorites...until, ya know...he KILLED HIS FAMILY! WWE has cut all ties even suggesting that he was ever apart of WWE. Vince will never let this happen, and no one taking over for Vince will have the balls to do it, nor should they. We should act as though he never existed.

 

[The King]

No. It's very unfortunate that he will never be inducted. WWE has already put in tons of effort to basically erase Benoit's existence from their history. There is no way that Vince will ever allow Benoit to be inducted, which is really too bad because he was one of the best in the business.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

just to toss something else into the mix... given that chris benoit will never be in the hall of fame, i think we can all agree on this, but what if benoit was just portraying a character? or hell one of benoits masked characters from Japan...do you think that would make a difference, less so the benoit actual characters, but what if he played a role like great muta or liger, do you think they would put the character in the hall?

 

[losmariachi]

I say a big maybe. This is professional wrestling after all where "anything" can happen. Hell we just saw the "original" screwjob victim (Wendi Richter) get a Hall of Fame nod, despite her vowing to never do business with the WWE again. And this whole Bret Hart storyline. If it draws attention, the McMahons will do it. Can you imagine the fireworks this would set off? In retrospect the only people who would be butthurt about it is the victim's family, and the mainstream press. But all of those people and the fans who are on this WWE fix would go out in droves, it would overshadow the hell out of that WrestleMania. That's only a maybe at best. And also, this is a Hall of Fame that contains Pete fucking Rose. Do you really think anyone will care THAT much?

 

[drobs85]

I agree with the ones who are saying he didn't face trial. The police didnt investigate all leads. Someone could've committed the perfect crime and made it appear as if Benoit did it. Not impossible. But if Koko B. Ware made it to the Hall, most people could. Benoit's career was better than his. No matter how great or how bad Benoit's career was he will never make it to the hof strictly because of the murder incident. Shame.

 

[Greenlight13]

I see this thread has turned into a bit of a did he or didn't he do things as we believe he did. Frankly, it doesn't matter one bit. Unless undisputed proof arises that he was framed he will never be inducted. Ever. The WWE, now more than ever, cares about what the public and by extension the media think of them. The image it would send if they inducted a man that as far as the world is concerned murdered his wife and child in cold blood would be a suicidal one to send. They would lose every sponsor, a large part of their audience and would be bashed to oblivion by the media.

Does he deserve it? Who's to say. There are a tonne of really great wrestlers who have performed for the WWE that are likely to never get inducted. I don't see someone like Christian getting in for example. Nor Rob Van Dam. Just being a good wrestler or even one who held a bucket load of titles and being involved in countless important feuds doesn't get you a spot in the Hall of Fame because at the end of the day one man and one man alone decides if you go in, and that's Vince. While I have no doubt that it's a wonderful achievement that should be cherished, it doesn't actually mean anything. No other Hall of Fame is decided based on the personal opinion of one single person. A football player wouldn't be kept out because he and the commissioner didn't see eye to eye, yet it happens a lot with the WWE's HOF. So for that reason it's not that big a deal that he will never end up there, because his contributions will be silently remembered by the fans that watched and cheered him regardless.

Speaking only for myself, I don't care what he did in the last 3 days of his life. I have a friend who still to this day can't watch any Benoit matches after a certain point because they feel funny about it. I have no such aversion. I loved Chris Benoit as a performer and I will never stop thinking he was one of the best pure performers there was. The reason I don't care is because when it comes to entertainers and athletes I don't care what they do in their spare time, I care about what they do professionally. I don't care that Michael Vick likes to take part in animal cruelty on his days off, I only care that he was once very exciting to watch on the field. I don't care if one of my favourite athletes cheats on his wife. These things are of no consequence to me because I don't know the guys in real life, all they are to me is what they do. Now if I ended up in a situation where I encountered them on a regular basis things might be different, but generally speaking they live thousands of miles away from me in the world of the celebrity, and what they do with their time doesn't concern me.

Chris Benoit was one hell of a wrestler. Nothing he did can change that. It's just that some people are unable to give praise to someone who did something so terrible because they think that it in some way excuses or even glorifies what he did. It doesn't. It doesn't at all. He deserved to die, and he shouldn't ever be mentioned by the WWE in a positive fashion (though I do think taking his name out of things such as lists of title holders and other statistics is wrong). But the bottom line is for over 10 years he performed at the highest caliber and you can't bury your head in the sand and pretend he didn't. Enjoying his past work doesn't mean you're saying what he did was right.

That's just the way I see it.

 

[Gort]

Well I wouldn't say he'll never be in the HOF (maybe after we are all dead if there is still a WWE or whatever company owns them at the time) it won't happen anytime soon and as great as he was and i know others have said it but even if somehow he didn't kill anyone it doesn't matter people believe he did, so that kinda the end of it for a long long time. Unless we find the real killer?(no that's stupid forget that part)

 

[wrestlingxp]

LOL, this is NEVER going to happen. Chris Benoit has been erased from existence, as well he should be. I can't believe some of you actually think this man deserves to be in the hall of fame after what he did. No, none of his masked characters will be in the hall of fame. No, "anything can happen in the WWE", does not apply here. Not in a million years will this happen. Don't hold your breath. I would not even give it one half of one percent chance of ever happening. Never. That's like OJ Simpson getting a lifetime achievement award. Not gonna happen. You have a better chance of Eddie Guerrero coming back from the dead and slapping some sense into his wife. You probably have a better chance of winning the super lotto jackpot 7 times in a row. We can end this discussion right here. The man was a sick human being, killed his wife, his young son and then himself, case closed.

There is a big difference of someone getting 'screwed' and 'vowing' to never come back than this monster getting into a hall of fame. Give it up fanboys, no amount of money or publicity would be enough for anyone to even consider this for a nano second. Don't even give me a "but..." it's over. He's gone and good riddance. Don't give him a "RIP" either, because he deserves to burn for eternity.

Okay, I think I have made my point...

 

[King Blitzkonic]

No offense, but those of you that want to keep possibly the best damn technical wrestler out of the HoF because of what he allegedly did need some serious mental examinations. I personally don't believe that Benoit killed Nancy or Daniel and I sure as hell don't believe that his personal life should be taken into account, but I don't think anyone can deny what Chris contributed positively to the business. If Vince can induct people like Ted Dibiase (who last I checked only won a tag-team title in his WWF career) and Koko B. Ware (who I felt was mediocre at best) he can definitely induct Benoit (though the induction would be cheapened by anti-Benoit ignorants at the ceremony and the mere fact his plaque would be in the same room with Pete Rose, who only got in via 3 beatings from Kane and a stinkface from Rikishi). I say let him in. Maybe some fans will be fooled by the Wild Pegasus gimmick from his Japan days but PUT "CHRIS BENOIT" IN.