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Chris Benoit |
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 Chris Benoit
History
Early Days In Canada and Japan
Chris began his career in the mid-1980s in Stu's Stampede Wrestling promotion. He won several International Tag Team titles there before Stampede's demise in 1989, and at that point he departed for New Japan Pro Wrestling under the name and mask of "The Pegasus Kid," later simply "Wild Pegasus." While with NJPW, he came into his own as a performer in matches with luminaries like Jushin Liger, Shinjiro Ohtani, Black Tiger (Eddie Guerrero), and El Samurai. In 1991, he won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title, his first major championship. He would go on to win the Super J Cup tournament in 1994, which, to this day, is considered one of the best wrestling cards of all time, solidifying his status as one of the foremost light heavyweights in the world.
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Upon his permanent return to the U.S. in 1995, he signed with Extreme Championship Wrestling. In his brief time with ECW Chris dropped his Pegasus gimmick for "The Crippler," a reference to a match in which he accidentally broke the neck of Sabu. Later, he and Dean Malenko won the ECW World Tag Team titles and created enough excitement to attract the attention of the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. After being unable to obtain a proper work visa to compete for ECW and being told flat out that as a WWF competitor he would not be able to work in Japan, Benoit decided that he would return to Japan instead of wrestling in the US until learning about the New Japan/WCW talent exchange. This lead to Benoit signing with WCW in late 1995.
World Championship Wrestling
His time in WCW was defined by highs and lows. He quickly was made a member of the reformed Four Horsemen in 1996 alongside Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Brian Pillman. A strikingly real feud with Kevin Sullivan and several matches on the hunt for the US Title highlighted much of 1996, but with the rise of the New World Order storylines in the middle of that year, Benoit struggled to keep himself in the public eye. Many of his fans began to perceive a lack of respect for his abilities from the higher-ups, and indeed for a short time he was promoted as "the best wrestler to never win a WCW title." Throughout, he continued to put on outstanding matches, as the issue with Diamond Dallas Page and Raven in early 1998 and the WCW World Television title Best of Seven series with Booker T in mid-year proved. However, he remained firmly kept in the midcard, without a very visible chance to elevate himself.
In 1999, he resumed teaming with new Horseman and former ECW partner Dean Malenko, and a series of World Tag Team title matches with Raven and Perry Saturn were among the best of the year. Benoit and Malenko defeated Curt Hennig and Barry Windham to win the WCW World Tag-Team Championship, and later in 1999 he would win the United States title as well. He formed the "Revolution" team with Malenko, Saturn, and Shane Douglas around this time, highlighting his disgruntledness with WCW management. From here, a last-ditch effort to raise his stakes was made, and by late 1999, he was facing Bret Hart on several occasions. One was their tribute match to Owen Hart in October of 1999, in Kansas City where Owen had died. In November, he wrestled Bret in Toronto in the finals of a World Heavyweight title tournament. He lost that match, though by January of 2000, WCW had made their last try at keeping him, giving him the WCW World Heavyweight Title in a victory over Sid Vicious. However, he was stripped of the title the next day when he decided to depart for the World Wrestling Federation.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
Chris signed with the WWF alongside Malenko, Saturn, and Guerrero, and they were introduced as "The Radicals." He was quickly put into a feud with Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle, and in April of 2000 he won his first championship in the WWF, the Intercontinental title. The Jericho feud and a high-profile feud with The Rock (who was WWF Champion at the time) filled out the remainder of 2000. He would later team with Jericho to win the World Tag Team titles in early 2001. A neck injury meant spinal fusion surgery and sidelined Benoit for most of 2002, but he returned late in that year to become an integral part of SmackDown!, winning the first WWE Tag Team Titles with foe and partner Kurt Angle in October. He and Angle faced off for the WWE Title at Royal Rumble 2003 in what many called the match of the year; however, the remainder of 2003 was fairly uneventful.
On January 25, 2004, Benoit won the 2004 Royal Rumble and put himself in line for a title shot at Wrestlemania XX. As a result of the long-standing Royal Rumble tradition that the winner receives a shot at the world champion at Wrestlemania, and the fact that there were effectively two world champions, Benoit exploited a so-called "loophole" in the rules and challenged the World Heavyweight Champion Triple H instead of the WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. It is also noted that since then, this "loophole" has become standard practice, with a main post-Rumble story being the winner contemplating their choice of champions.
On Sunday, March 14, 2004, Benoit won the World Heavyweight Championship, by causing Triple H to tap out using his signature move, the Crippler Crossface, to the surprise of many wrestling insiders who predicted Triple H to retain the title and Benoit to win the title the following month in WWE Backlash, which was to be held in Benoit's hometown of Edmonton. The match was a triple threat match that also included Shawn Michaels, and it took place at Wrestlemania XX. Besides the single day reign as WCW World Heavyweight Champion, this is Benoit's first real World Heavyweight Title reign in any promotion. The triple threat match was hailed by many observers as one of the year's best.
On August 15, 2004, Chris Benoit was defeated by Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship at the SummerSlam pay-per-view. His reign lasted 5 months and was a major part of his 7 straight pay-per-view victories. He had successful, high-profile defenses against Triple H, Michaels, and Kane, among others.
Signature and finishing maneuvers
The Crippler Crossface
Triple/Rolling German Suplexes
Swandive Headbutt
Throat Slash
Snot Rockets
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