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The
path to the World Championship may have been a long and trying
one for Chris Benoit but it is paved with many a fantastic
match. Throughout his career, Benoit has earned the
respect of the fans and his peers as one of the greatest
workers of all time.
Benoit's journey began in
the "dungeon" of legendary trainer Stu Hart where Benoit
trained to learn the art of professional wrestling.
Benoit began wrestling for Stu Hart's Calgary Stampede
Wrestling (CSW) where he began to make a name for
himself. Benoit was invited to wrestle for a year in New
Japan Pro Wrestling. The culture shock was almost too
much for Benoit and when he returned home for the holidays, he
almost backed out of returning to Japan to finish his tour.
His friends told him he would regret not returning for the
rest of his life and Benoit toughed things out and returned to
Japan. Benoit would learn much about wrestling and began
to develop a name for himself in Japan as well, wrestling as
the masked wrestler Pegasus Kid and unmasked as Wild
Pegasus.
After his tour of Japan, Benoit
returned to CSW where he began winning tag team and singles
championships. He also continued to tour
internationally, winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight
Championship in Japan and the WWF/UWA Light-Heavyweight Title
in Mexico. He also appeared in the new promotion
Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). By now, Benoit's
reputation as a fantastic worker was spreading throughout the
world.
Over the next two years, Benoit
continued to wrestle around the world. He wrestled for a
brief stint in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), won the
prestigious Super J Tournament in Japan, and he even received
several try-out matches for the World Wrestling Federation
(WWF). For a while he settled in ECW where he became
known as "The Crippler" Chris Benoit after accidentally
breaking Sabu's neck during a match and formed a successful
tag team with Dean Malenko. However work permit problems
eventually led to Benoit having to leave ECW.
In 1996, Benoit was signed to WCW
where he earned a high profile debut as a member of the Four Horsemen. During
this run, Benoit feuded with Kevin Sullivan and he was paired
with Kevin Sullivan's real-life wife Woman as Benoit's
valet. Woman eventually left Sullivan to be with Benoit,
creating tremendous pressure on Benoit behind the scenes as
Sullivan was booker for WCW. This led to speculation
that Benoit's career was being held back as a
result.
Over the next few years, Benoit
wrestled in some of the most highly regarded matches in WCW at
the height of the Monday Night War. However championship
gold seemed to elude him. Despite enthusiastic reactions
from the fans, Benoit's career seemed to be stalled and he
began to grow discontent with wrestling in WCW. Benoit
would eventually win the WCW Tag Team Titles, the WCW U.S.
Championship and the WCW TV Title but he was growing
increasingly frustrated with the behind the scenes power
battles and he found himself struggling to work for WCW.
In early 2000, WCW wrestlers were told that they could go work
elsewhere if they were not happy with their job. Benoit
expressed interest in this offer. At the 2000
Souled Out pay-per-view, Benoit won the WCW World
Championship. Despite his win, Benoit left WCW for the
WWF along with fellow WCW stars Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn,
and Dean Malenko. The fourt wrestlers became known as
"The Radicals".
Benoit achieved almost instant
success in the WWF, winning the Intercontinental Title at
Wrestlemania 2000 in a Triple Threat match with Kurt Angle and
Chris Jericho. Benoit's reputation as a fantastic worker
grew by leaps and bounds as he wrestled Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, the Rock, and "Stone
Cold" Steve Austin in some of the best matches seen in the WWF
in years. However Benoit's matches were taking an
enormous toll on his body and in 2001, he was forced to leave
wrestling for nearly a year in order to have his neck
surgically repaired. During his recovery phase, Benoit was
drafted by Vince McMahon to the Smackdown brand (The WWE had
been split into two "brands" by the WWE's Board of Directors
after WWE co-owners Ric Flair and Vince McMahon could not
co-exist) Benoit returned nearly a year later and quickly
established himself as a top contender for the
Intercontinental and WWF Heavyweight Titles. While the
WWF Title eluded him, Benoit would win the Intercontinental
Title again.
Finally after years of hunting the
WWF title, Benoit won the 2004 Royal Rumble to earn himself a
World Title match at Wrestlemania XX!. However, Benoit
had been warned by Smackdown General Manager Paul Heyman
that he would never receive a championship match as long as
Heyman was in power. Benoit then used his title match to
challenge the RAW Champion Triple H,
effectively switching brands from Smackdown to RAW.
Shawn Michaels interjected himself into the match and at
Wrestlemania XX, Benoit battled Michaels and WWF World
Champion Triple H in a fantastic Three-Way Match (regarded by
many fans as the match of the year). Benoit's dream of
championship gold was finally achieved when he made Triple H
tap out to his Crippler Crossface submission hold.
Benoit would retain the title in a 3 way rematch and in
singles competition against Triple H before being upset by
Randy Orton at SummerSlam. Since then, Benoit has
remained in the title hunt and he continues to put on
fantastic matches no matter who he wrestles.
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