Chris Benoit
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 Chris Benoit  Chris Benoit Statistics Ring name(s): The Pegasus Kid, Wild Pegasus, Chris Benoit"The Crippler" Height: 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) Weight: 234 lb (109 kg) Born: May 21, 1967, Montreal, Quebec Resides: Edmonton, Alberta Trained by: Stu Hart Debut: November 22, 1985 Christopher Michael Benoit, better known as Chris Benoit, the French-Canadian professional wrestler is currently wrestling for World Wrestling Entertainment on its SmackDown! brand. Chris Benoit, who grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, is widely known as one of the most technically proficient and skilled and dedicated employees in the WWE despite often being misused. Chris Benoit trained in Calgary, Alberta under Stu Hart in his "Dungeon" and became one of the many stars to emerge from Stu's watch, alongside notables like Bret and Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, Lance Storm, Chris Jericho, and others. Chris Benoit has held many titles in numerous promotions, the most prestigious being WWE's World Heavyweight Championship. Chris Benoit Early Career Chris began his career in 1985 in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion. He won several International Tag Team and British Commonwealth titles there, and had an excellent series of singles matches with Johnny Smith, 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, the name a tribute to his wrestling hero The Dynamite Kid. He would eventually lose the mask in Mexico and would later change his ring name to 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 (the late Eddie Guerrero), and El Samurai. In 1991, he won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title from Liger, his first major championship. He would eventually lose the title, and his mask, back to Liger. He would go on to win the Super J Cup tournament in 1994 by defeating the likes of Black Tiger and the Great Sasuke, which, to this day, is considered one of the best wrestling cards of all time, solidifying his status as one of the foremost junior heavyweights in the world. Throughout the time before his run in the United States, he had also competed in Mexico and Germany, where he won a few regional championships. He even had a short run in WCW in the early nineties, but was unsuccessful in gaining any momentum. Extreme Championship Wrestling Upon his permanent return to the U.S. in 1995, he signed with Extreme Championship Wrestling. In the time he was with ECW, Benoit dropped his Pegasus gimmick for "The Crippler", contrary to belief this name was not started from the night he broke the neck of Sabu, Joey Styles cleary calls Benoit "The Crippler" before the incident even happens. He would be promoted as one of the finest wrestlers of the day, and just break his opponents in half. Paul Heyman would have him cut long monologue promos to give him the chance to come out of his shell and to express a tough, dark persona. Later, he and Dean Malenko won the ECW Tag Team Titles from Sabu and Tazmaniac. After winning, they were initiated into the Triple Threat, led by ECW Heavyweight Champion, Shane Douglas. This created enough excitement to attract the attention of the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. Benoit would eventually have a few tryout matches for the WWF in the cold in dark matches being managed by Ted Dibiase and was the first choice to play the role of "The Ringmaster". (The role would end up going to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin) After being unable to obtain a proper work visa to compete for ECW and being told 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 led to Benoit signing with WCW in late 1995. For WCW and WWE see the Left Menu Chris Benoit Nicknames The Crippler The Canadian Crippler The Rabid Wolverine Toothless Aggression Chris Benoit Facts Chris Benoit's first match was a Tag Team Match on November 22, 1985 for Stampede Wrestling, teaming with Rick Patterson to defeat Butch Moffat & Mike Hammer in Calgary, Alberta. Despite the storyline that he is often "passed over" for titles, Benoit has won almost every major WWE and WCW individual title as well as one-half of every major WWE, WCW, and ECW tag team championship. The only titles to elude him thus far are the WWE Championship and the defunct WWE European Championship. Chris Benoit is also the only born Canadian to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Triple H who is the first World Heavyweight Champion is actaully a French-Canadian American born and raised in the United States. Chris Benoit's lost tooth is usually credited to training or an accident early on in his wrestling career. It actually resulted from an accident involving his pet Rottweiler. One day, Benoit was struck with the top of the Rottweiler's head beneath his chin, and his tooth "popped out". Chris Benoit's entrance theme music is "Whatever", performed by Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace. This song is a vocal version of his earlier WWE theme music, "Shooter". This is a more aggressive version of Dynamite Kid's theme song. Although Chris Benoit had been previously introduced as hailing from Edmonton, Alberta, in 2003 Vince McMahon decided that he was to be introduced as "now residing in Atlanta, Georgia", as Benoit had been living there since his time in WCW. The rationale was that American fans would be more likely to get behind him if he were perceived to be American (the same occurred to Chris Jericho when they started introducing him as "born in Manhasset, New York". Still, Benoit received a hometown hero's welcome when he defended the World Heavyweight Championship in Edmonton at Backlash 2004, where he defeated Shawn Michaels and Triple H in a Triple Threat Match. Chris Benoit was trained at Stu Hart's Dungeon and New Japan Pro Wrestling's Dojo. Chris Benoit is credited for being the first Royal Rumble winner to use the "contract loophole", where the winner can choose to stay on his brand or move to the other brand and fight the brand's respective World Champion. Chris Benoit has switched brands more than any other wrestler since the WWE Draft. He has jumped show 4 times, whilst Matt Hardy and Rob Van Dam have jumped show 3 times. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has gave out ratings of 4 3/4 out of 5 stars to 6 of Benoit's matches in WWE alone, including: Benoit vs. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania XX; for the World Heavyweight Championship) Benoit vs. Kurt Angle (Royal Rumble 2003; for the WWE Championship) Benoit and Angle vs. Edge & Rey Mysterio (WWE No Mercy; WWE Tag-Team Championship Tournament Finals) Benoit & Chris Jericho vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. Edge & Christian (May 24, 2001 edition of SmackDown!; TLC Match for the WWF Tag Team Championships) Benoit & Jericho vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin & Triple H (May 21, 2001 edition of RAW; for the WWF Tag Team Titles) Benoit vs. Jericho (Royal Rumble 2001; Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship) Chris Benoit eliminated the most people in the 2004 Royal Rumble Match by eliminating six (Bradshaw, Mark Henry, Rhyno, Matt Morgan, A-Train, and The Big Show) Chris Benoit Personal Life Personal life Benoit idolized The Dynamite Kid growing up, and stylized himself after him. When he began wrestling, he wrestled as "Dynamite" Chris Benoit, as a tribute to the Kid. He also began using the Diving Headbutt and the Snap Suplex, some of the Kid's trademark moves. When he was in WCW, Benoit was booked to have an affair with rival Kevin Sullivan's wife Woman aka Nancy Daus. The feud was booked to look as real as possible, and soon became reality. Nancy left Sullivan and the company in 1997. Sullivan used his booking power to get revenge on Benoit, burying him at all turns. This eventually lead to The Radicalz leaving WCW for WWF in early 2000 when Sullivan was given full control of the company. He had his first child with Nancy Daus-Sullivan together on February 25, 2000, a son named Daniel Christopher Benoit. Benoit has a son, David, and a daughter, Megan from his ex-wife. Chris Benoit Pictures 
Chris Benoit
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