Chris Benoit (21 May 1967 – 24 June 2007) was one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. He was a native of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and trained at the world famous Hart Brothers Pro Wrestling Training Camp. He made a name for himself all over the world in promotions such as NJPW, CWA, ECW, WCW and WWF/E. In a profession that moved farther and farther from its roots, Benoit was known for his technical prowess and reminded the fans of what it was all about: wrestling.
Chris Benoit was born in Montreal, Canada in 1967 and moved west to Edmonton with his family some 12 years later. Here he discovered professional wrestling, namely Stampede Wrestling, owned by the legendary Stu Hart. Benoit attended many wrestling shows, he started talking to the wrestlers, and then working with the ring crew, which in the summer of 1985 led to Stu inviting Benoit down to train in Calgary.
Stampede Wrestling (1985-1989)
Benoit idolized the Dynamite Kid growing up, and styled himself after him. This prompted him to become a wrestler, so when he began wrestling, he was initially billed as "Dynamite" Chris Benoit. He also began using the Diving Headbutt and the Snap Suplex, some of the Kid's trademark moves.
After years of strenuous training in the legendary Hart family "Dungeon", Chris Benoit began his career in 1985 in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion. His debut match was a tag team match on November 22, 1985 in Calgary, Alberta, where he teamed with "The Remarkable" Rick Patterson against Butch Moffat and Mike Hammer. In 1986 Benoit teamed with Ben Bassarab to capture the Stampede Tag Team Championship from Wayne Farris and Ron Starr. The young team quickly lost the belts, but together with Keith Hart, Benoit once again became tag team champion. In the end of 1986, Benoit moved to Japan to enhance his skills (on the recommendation of Bad News Allen), he stayed there for almost nine months. Benoit had his first match in New Japan in January 1987. As the autumn of 1987 beckoned, Benoit's business relationship with New Japan came to an end, therefore he returned to Calgary and Stampede Wrestling.
Benoit started teaming with Johnny Smith, who later turned on Benoit, and the two started feuding over the British Commonwealth mid-heavyweight title for over a year. Chris won the title four times between March 1988 and July 1989. Benoit also won the tag team titles with Lance Idol, and later Biff Wellington. Benoit also teamed with Davey Boy Smith to take on his idol Dynamite Kid and Johnny Smith. It all came to an end, in December 1989, when Stampede went under.
During his tenure in Stampede, he won several International Tag Team and British Commonwealth titles, established himself in Canada and gotten his foot in the door of the promotion he'd depart for once Stampede folded: New Japan Pro Wrestling.
New Japan Pro Wrestling/Independent circuit (1989-1994)
Upon arriving in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), Benoit spent about a year training in their "New Japan Dojo" with the younger wrestlers to improve his abilities. While in the dojo, he spent months doing strenuous activities like push ups and floor sweeping before stepping into the ring. He made his Japanese debut wearing a mask and assuming the name "The Pegasus Kid". Benoit said numerous times that he originally hated the mask, but it eventually became a part of him. While with NJPW, he came into his own as a performer in critically-acclaimed matches with luminaries like Jushin Liger, Shinjiro Ohtani, The Black Tiger, and El Samurai in their junior heavyweight division.
Benoit returned to New Japan, where he marked his return at the Tokyo Dome show, 10 February 1990. Benoit became the masked Pegasus Kid, who became a proverbial thorn in Jushin Thunder Liger's side. Before a live crowd of more than 60,000 people, Benoit and partner Naoki Sano defeated Jushin Liger and Akira Nogami. Six months later Benoit defeated Jushin Thunder Liger for his first major championship, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title. In doing so, Benoit became only the second westerner to hold the title (Owen Hart was the first). Benoit lost the title back to Liger, some 3 months later. He would eventually lose a mask v. mask match to Liger, and reinvent himself as Wild Pegasus.
In March 1991, Chris moved to Mexico and the Universal Wrestling Alliance, where he captured the WWF Light Heavyweight Title from Villano III. He would hold that title for 18 months. In the meantime Benoit and partner David Taylor also had time to win the CWA World Tag Team title from Miles Zrno and Franz Schumann in Bremen, Germany.
Between 25 May and 15 June 1993 the Top of the Super Juniors took place. It is a tournament where the wrestlers are divided in two groups, fighting against everybody in the group, the wrestlers get points for victory and draw, the two best from each group advance to the semifinals, where it turns into a regular tournament. The Pegasus Kid advanced to the semifinals, and was already in the lead. In the final Benoit defeated El Samurai to become the winner of the Top of the Super Juniors 1993. He went on to win the Super J Cup Tournament 16 April 1994, defeating Black Tiger (Eddy Guerrero), Gedo, and Great Sasuke in the finals, solidifying his status as one of the foremost junior heavyweights in the world. In 1995, Benoit won the Best of the Super Juniors tournament by defeating Shinjiro Ohtani in the final. During his time in Japan, Chris Benoit had classic matches with some of the top wrestlers in the world and established himself as one of the best.
World Championship Wrestling (1992–1993)
Chris Benoit first came to WCW in June 1992, teaming up with fellow Canadian wrestler Biff Wellington for the NWA World Tag Team title tournament; they were defeated by Brian Pillman and Jushin Liger in the first round.
He did not return to WCW until January 1993 at the Clash of the Champions, defeating Brad Armstrong. A month later, at Superbrawl III, he lost to 2 Cold Scorpio, getting pinned with only 3 seconds left in the 20-minute time limit. At the same time he formed a tag team with Bobby Eaton. After he and Eaton lost to Scorpio and Marcus Bagwell at Slamboree, Benoit headed back to Japan.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1994-1995)
In 1994, Benoit began working with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in between tours of Japan. His first appearance came at the NWA World Heavyweight Title tournament, which was hosted by ECW. Benoit lost to 2 Cold Scorpio, but impressed everyone with his performance. He was a dominant wrestler there gaining notoriety as the "Crippler" after the 1994 November to Remember, when Benoit accidentally broke Sabu's neck within the opening seconds of the match. The injury came when Benoit threw Sabu, who attempted to turn mid-air and landed almost directly on his neck. After this match, Paul Heyman, the head booker of ECW at the time, came up with the idea of continuing the moniker for Benoit, which Chris confirms on his DVD Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story. From that point until his departure from ECW, Chris was known as the "Crippler" Chris Benoit. However, when he returned to WCW in the fall of 1995, WCW modified his ring name to the "Canadian Crippler" Chris Benoit.
Benoit certainly lived up to his name, the "Crippler", when he made a run-in, 4 February 1995, where he powerbombed Sabu off the top rope, onto and through Rocco Rock, who was lying prone on a table. As a result of this incident Rocco Rock had to use a wheelchair. On the same night Benoit defeated Al Snow in one of the best technical matches in ECW. Benoit and Dean Malenko went on to win the ECW World Tag Team Championship from Sabu and The Tazmaniac in February 1995. After winning, they were initiated into the Triple Threat stable, led by ECW World Heavyweight Champion, Shane Douglas. 
The team lost the titles to The Public Enemy that April at ECW's Three Way Dance. Also that month, he defeated 2 Cold Scorpio in Pyongyang, North Korea at the World Peace Festival, in front of 150,000 people. Benoit would spend some time in ECW feuding with The Steiner Brothers and rekindling the feud with 2 Cold Scorpio having more classic matches. He was forced to leave ECW after his work visa expired, and Heyman was supposed to renew it, but he failed to make it on time, so Benoit left as a matter of job security. In leaving, he passed up the opportunity for an ECW World Title push. He toured Japan until WCW called.
World Championship Wrestling (1995–2000)
New Japan Pro Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) had a working relationship, and because of their "talent exchange" program Benoit signed with WCW in late 1995/early 1996. He started out in WCW as a member of the cruiserweight division, having lengthy matches against many of his former rivals in Japan, including Eddy Guerrero. He also continued teaming with former Triple Threat member, Dean Malenko. Benoit was the leading figure among an influx of talent that changed the face of WCW, and brought wrestling back to the forefront, albeit in the midcard.
After impressing higher-ups, he became a member of the reformed Four Horsemen in 1995, alongside Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Brian Pillman. Shortly thereafter, he impressed many with his performances against WCW World Champion, Randy Savage. He nearly won the title in late 1995, on an edition of WCW Saturday Night, when he match ended in disqualification due to the other Horsemen assaulting Savage. When Pillman abruptly left the company for the WWF, Benoit was placed into his ongoing feud with (booker) Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan booked a feud in which Benoit was having an affair with Sullivan's (real life) wife Nancy (also known as Woman). Benoit and Nancy were forced to spend time together to make the affair look real, (hold hands in public, share hotel rooms, etc.)
This on-screen relationship developed into a real-life affair off-screen. Because of this, Sullivan and Benoit had a contentious backstage relationship at best and Benoit defeated Sullivan in a Retirement match. Benoit did, however, admit having a certain amount of respect for Sullivan, saying on the DVD Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story that Sullivan never took undue liberties in the ring during their feud, even though he blamed Benoit for breaking up his marriage. Following this, he began a feud with Raven and his Flock. Benoit came close to wrestling the WCW World TV Title from Perry Saturn in late 1997, but he was denied this victory. Several times, Raven and Benoit were scheduled to face off; however, Raven insisted that Benoit wrestle members of his Flock instead. He had to go through all of Raven's henchmen before getting the opportunity for a one-on-one match. They would finally meet, in January 1998, as Raven was forced into unconsciousness via the Crippler Crossface. Dean Malenko prevented the Flock from taking advantage of Benoit, and the two would go on to have a series of classic tag team bouts against the team of Chris Jericho and Eddy Guerrero.
In 1998, Benoit was chasing the WCW United States Championship. He was involved in a three-way feud with Raven and the champion, DDP. Initially, he was to challenge DDP for the title, but Raven decided to interject himself into the feud. Again, the booking committee held Benoit down and he was not allowed to win the title. He was then engaged in a long feud with Booker T, over the WCW World Television Championship until Booker lost the title to Fit Finlay. Booker won a "Best-of-Seven" series which was held between the two to determine a Number One Contender. Benoit went up 3 to 1 before Booker caught up, forcing the 7th and final match on Monday Nitro. During the match, Bret Hart interjected himself, interfering on behalf of Benoit in an attempt to get him to join the New World Order. Benoit refused to win that way and told the referee what happened, getting himself disqualified. Booker refused that victory, instead opting for an eighth match at the 1998 Great American Bash to see who would fight Finlay later that night. Booker won the final match and went on to beat Finlay for the title. Like so many others, simply wrestling Chris Benoit elevated Booker T’s career. Despite his world class skill, Benoit remained at the top of the midcard, due to the attitudes of the bookers. Rather than being showcased as the very talented wrestler that he was, he was more often used only to help put over other, sometimes less talented, wrestlers. He did manage to win the WCW World TV Title on two occasions, but these title reigns were never acknowledged on television.
By September 1998, Ric Flair returned and the Four Horsemen had reunited. Benoit and newest Horsemen member, Dean Malenko, immediately set out to once again dominate the tag team scene. Benoit also had a few matches with Bret Hart, though they were riddled with outside interference and were not the classics that they should have been. In the meantime, the Horsemen defeated all opponents and fought their way through the tournament to crown new WCW World Tag Team Champions. They were cheated out of the win in the tournament final at Superbrawl 1999, but this led to a bitter feud with Curt Hennig and Barry Windham. Benoit and Makenko were relentless in their pursuit of the champs.
In March 1999, Benoit and Malenko defeated Curt Hennig and Barry Windham to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship. They then were involved in a memorable feud with Raven and Perry Saturn, who cost them the belts. Benoit and Malenko were instrumental in the revitalization of the WCW tag team scene. After a few months of being placed on the back burner, Benoit and Malenko left the Horsemen at the end of May.
In June, Flair would attempt to patch things up with Benoit, only to double cross him in a tag match. Perry Saturn joined Benoit and the duo won the WCW World Tag Team Title on 7 June and 10 June 1999. That summer, Benoit, Malenko and Saturn would be joined by Shane Douglas to form the Revolution; a group of younger wrestlers who felt slighted by WCW management, believing they never gave them the chance to be stars, pushing older, more established wrestlers instead. Things were looking up by August, as Benoit won the WCW United States Heavyweight Title. Shortly after losing this title, in September, he defeated Rick Steiner for the WCW World TV Title.
Benoit's most notable match of 1999 was with Bret Hart on WCW Nitro on October 1999, in Kansas City, Missouri, as a tribute to Owen Hart, who had recently died due to an equipment malfunction. It is remembered by many as one of the greatest professional wrestling matches of all time, featuring two legends of the sport.
Shortly thereafter, Benoit split from the Revolution. Malenko then cost him the TV Title at Halloween Havoc, which began a heated series of matches between the two. In Novemeber, Benoit faced Bret Hart again in the finals of the WCW World Heavyweight Title tournament, which he ultimately lost. The two would remain associated for some time. By January 2000, WCW made their last try at keeping him, putting him in a match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which he won, at Souled Out. However, due to disagreements with management and to protest the promotion of Kevin Sullivan to head booker, Benoit left the company the next day alongside his friends Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn, forfeiting his title in the process. He also turned down a guaranteed contract and went to work for the competition, for far less money. He was truly a man of his convictions.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (2000-2007)
Along with Guerrero, Saturn, and Malenko, Benoit debuted in the WWF as a stable that became known as The Radicalz. Benoit’s debut match was against WWF Champion, Triple H. The Radicalz aligned themselves with WWF Champion Triple H and became a heel faction.
Benoit quickly won his first title in the WWF just over a month later at WrestleMania 2000, pinning Chris Jericho in a triple threat match to win Kurt Angle's Intercontinental Championship, which he soon defended against Taz. Benoit then entered into a long-running feud with Jericho, putting on the best matches WWF had seen in many years.
It was also in this time period that Benoit wrestled in his first WWF pay per view main events, challenging The Rock for the title in July 2000 and as part of a fatal four way title match in September. Both times, Benoit won the WWF Championship, only to have the decision reversed by then-WWF commissioner Mick Foley.
Benoit and Jericho met on PPV four times in nine months, exchanging the Intercontinental Title back and forth and culminating in Jericho defeating Benoit in a ladder match at the 2001 Royal Rumble. Benoit won the Intercontinental Title three times between April 2000 and January 2001.
In early 2001, Benoit broke away from The Radicalz (who had recently reformed three months earlier) and turned babyface, feuding first with his former stable-mates and then with Kurt Angle, whom he wrestled at WrestleMania X-Seven. The feud continued and culminated in a match at Judgment Day 2001 where Angle won a Two out of three falls match with the help of Edge and Christian. In response, Benoit teamed up with his former rival Jericho to defeat Edge and Christian in that night's Tag Team Turmoil match.
The next night on WWF Raw in San Jose, California, Jericho and Benoit challenged WWF Tag Team Champions Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H for their titles. Jericho and Benoit ended their reign and used the win as a springboard to challenge Austin for his world title (This was the night that Triple H suffered a legit injury by tearing his quadricep muscle while attempting to clothesline Jericho). Benoit got two title matches the following week, first losing via Montreal Screwjob in Calgary and then just barely losing to Austin in Benoit's hometown of Edmonton. Unfortunately, also in that time period came a four-way TLC match where Benoit suffered a neck injury that required surgery with Dr. Lloyd Youngblood. Despite this, he worked through until the King of the Ring, where he was pinned in a triple threat match versus Austin and Jericho. Benoit missed the next year due to his neck injury.
During the first WWE Draft, he was picked by Vince McMahon third to be part of the new SmackDown! roster, although still on the injured list. However, when he returned, he did so as a member of the RAW roster. On his first night back, he turned heel again and aligned himself with Eddy Guerrero, and he feuded with Steve Austin briefly. Benoit and Guerrero proved to be an excellent tag team, and surely would have gone down as the best ever if they had not been forced to split. He and Guerrero were then moved to SmackDown during "open season" on wrestler contracts, with Benoit taking his newly won Intercontinental championship with him, which he had gained from Rob Van Dam. RVD then defeated Benoit at SummerSlam 2002 and returned the title to RAW.
After returning to SmackDown! in October, he was crowned the first winner of the WWE Tag Team Championship, alongside foe and partner Kurt Angle. They both turned face again by betraying Los Guerreros. The two made an impressive combination, but could not stand each other.
Angle won his third WWE Championship at Armageddon 2002, and Benoit faced him for the title at the 2003 Royal Rumble. Although Benoit lost the match, he received a standing ovation for his efforts after a very outstanding match. Benoit returned to the tag team ranks, teaming with the returning Rhyno. At WrestleMania XIX, the WWE Tag Team Champions, Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin, put their belts on the line against Benoit and his partner Rhyno and Los Guerreros in a triple threat tag team match. Team Angle retained when Shelton Benjamin pinned Chavo.
In June 2003, the WWE United States Championship was reactivated, and Benoit participated in the tournament for the belt. He beat Rhyno in the first round and then Matt Hardy in the second, before losing the final match to Eddy Guerrero at Vengeance 2003. The two feuded over the title for the next month, and Benoit's popularity ascended to an all-time high. He defeated the likes of A-Train, The Big Show, and Brock Lesnar by submission. General Manager Paul Heyman began a vendetta against Benoit along with Lesnar, preventing him from gaining a shot at Lesnar's WWE Title.
When Benoit won a qualifying match for the 2004 Royal Rumble against the Full Blooded Italians in a Gauntlet Match, Heyman named him as the number one entry, but Benoit swore victory. On January 25, 2004 Benoit won the 2004 Royal Rumble by last eliminating Big Show, and thus earned a WWE Championship 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, being on the SmackDown! brand at the time, Benoit challenged for the WWE Championship. Benoit, however, exploited a "loophole" in the rules and challenged World Heavyweight Champion Triple H. With this win, Benoit became one of only two men to enter at #1 and win the Royal Rumble (the other being Shawn Michaels at the 1995 Royal Rumble). Though the match was originally intended to be a one-on-one match, Shawn Michaels thought that he deserved to be in the main event, which eventually resulted in a Triple Threat Match between Michaels, Benoit, and the champion, Triple H.
In June 2003, the WWE United States Championship was reactivated, and Benoit participated in the tournament for the belt. He beat Rhyno in the first round and then Matt Hardy in the second, before losing the final match to Eddy Guerrero at Vengeance 2003. The two feuded over the title for the next month, and Benoit's popularity ascended to an all-time high. He defeated the likes of A-Train, The Big Show, and Brock Lesnar by submission. General Manager Paul Heyman began a vendetta against Benoit along with Lesnar, preventing him from gaining a shot at Lesnar's WWE Title.
When Benoit won a qualifying match for the 2004 Royal Rumble against the Full Blooded Italians in a Gauntlet Match, Heyman named him as the number one entry, but Benoit swore victory. On January 25, 2004 Benoit won the 2004 Royal Rumble by last eliminating Big Show, and thus earned a WWE Championship 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, being on the SmackDown! brand at the time, Benoit challenged for the WWE Championship. Benoit, however, exploited a "loophole" in the rules and challenged World Heavyweight Champion Triple H. With this win, Benoit became one of only two men to enter at #1 and win the Royal Rumble (the other being Shawn Michaels at the 1995 Royal Rumble). Though the match was originally intended to be a one-on-one match, Shawn Michaels thought that he deserved to be in the main event, which eventually resulted in a Triple Threat Match between Michaels, Benoit, and the champion, Triple H.
The next night in Calgary, he and Edge won the World Tag Team titles from Batista and Ric Flair, making Benoit a double champion. A short time late, on RAW, Benoit defeated Triple H in a one-hour Iron Man match (4-3; Benoit scored two pinfalls and two submissions) to retain the title and to finally cement his place as the top wrestler in the world. His reign lasted 5 months, and he gained 7 straight pay-per-view victories.
Benoit and Edge were forced to team up to face the then tag team champions, La Résistance; however, Edge deserted Benoit during the match and Benoit was forced to take on both members of La Résistance by himself. He still managed to win the World Tag Team title.
In early 2005, Benoit had once again been overlooked. The most notable matches from this time include facing Chris Jericho on RAW, trading victories in Canada and Japan. These stood out as the best matches in WWE for quite some time.
On June 9, 2005, Benoit returned to SmackDown! after being the first man selected by the SmackDown! side in the 2005 Draft Lottery, and participated in an ECW-style revolution against the SmackDown! heels. Benoit appeared at One Night Stand 2005, defeating Eddy Guerrero. At the end of the night he delivered a flying headbutt to his former WCW boss and former RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff.
At SummerSlam 2005. Benoit defeated Orlando Jordan in 25 seconds with the Crippler Crossface to win the United States Heavyweight Title. He was later put into another feud with Booker T, being screwed out of his title.
Chris Benoit appeared on RAW on November 14, 2005 for Guerrero's tribute show hosted by both RAW and SmackDown! superstars. Benoit was devastated at the loss of his best friend and was very emotional during a series of video testimonials, where he said that he loved Eddy and will never forget him. The same week on SmackDown! (taped on the same night as RAW), Benoit defeated Triple H in a tribute match to his fallen friend. Following the contest, Benoit, Helmsley, and Dean Malenko all assembled in the ring and pointed to the sky in salute of Guerrero.
He went on to continue feuding with Booker T, and also Randy Orton, for the US Title. At No Way Out 2006 Benoit won it by making Booker submit to the Crippler Crossface, ending the feud. Soon after, Benoit defeated Randy Orton in a No Holds Barred match on SmackDown! via Crippler Crossface. He held the title until Wrestlemania 22. After defeating Fit Finlay at Judgment Day 2006, Benoit announced a sabbatical to heal nagging shoulder injuries. On October 8, Benoit made his return at No Mercy, defeating William Regal by submission in a surprise match. Later that week, he won his fifth United States Championship from Mr. Kennedy also by submission.
Benoit then engaged in a feud with Chavo Guerrero and retained his United States Championship at Survivor Series 2006 and Armageddon 2006, both times defeating Chavo.
Benoit continued to successfully defend his United States Title, holding it until Judgment Day 2007, as he put over a lesser athlete and attempted to elevate him. On the June 11 edition of RAW, Benoit was drafted from SmackDown! to ECW as part of the 2007 WWE Draft. Benoit won his ECW debut match teaming up with CM Punk and defeating Elijah Burke and Marcus Cor Von by disqualification.
On June 19, 2007, Benoit wrestled his last match, defeating Elijah Burke in a match to determine who would face CM Punk for the vacated ECW World Championship at Vengeance. Without doubt, Chris Benoit was set to begin a lengthy reign as ECW World Heavyweight Champion, bringing credibility back to the belt and to the brand. Unfortunately, he never showed up to the arena. On June 24, 2007, the world of professional wrestling lost a true legend and a class act, as Chris Benoit came to the end of his earthly journey.
[This bio is taken directly from the Chris Benoit Tribute page at http://canadiancrippler.blogspot.com/. I no longer have access to this page and did wish to preserve some part of the hard work that was done in late 2007 and early 2008.]
