Farewell, The Rabid Wolverine!

I was going through this online forum I frequent when I came upon a topic about the WWE. So I opened it up, and me, not being up to date with the happenings in the wrestling world, didn’t really know what everyone was talking about. Until I saw a post saying

“Yeah, it’s true, Benoit’s dead.”

OMFG!!! SO I started reading through the topic with fervour and came upon a few news sites confirming the fact that Chris Benoit, aka, The Rabid Wolverine, aka The Canadian Crippler, had died. Another shocking fact was that both his wife and his 7-year old son were also found dead in their home in Atlanta, Georgia. Further updates on a few news pages revealed the fact that Benoit had actually committed suicide, and possibly could have also killed his wife and son :o!

This is especially hard on me and my friends cuz we all loved Benoit. He was a hard technical wrestler and his ring work was excellent. We always felt he was a hard worker and served as a role model to everyone with his no-nonsense and workhorse attitude.

Benoit was trained in the infamous Hart Family Dungeon, by the legendary Stu Hart, Bret and Owen Hart’s father. His first championship did not come in North America, rather it came in Japan where Benoit solidified himself as one of the premier junior heavyweights, under the names The Pegasus Kid and Wild Pegasus. He then had a one-year stint with the WCW in 1992 before going on to Extreme Championship Wrestline(ECW) in 1994. It was here in ECM, that Benoit dropped Pegasus name and adopted The Canadian Crippler as his alias. Benoit then came back to the WCW in 1995, where he’s remembered to have some great feuds, including one with BookerT, which elevated both of them as serious singles competitors.

By January 2000, Benoit has many disagreements with the management of the WCW, and so he, and 3 other stars include Eddie Guerrero, left for the WWE. It was here that he was to become world renowned. He also got a nickname- The Rabid Wolverine, in addition to the Canadian Crippler. In 2004, Benoit became the 2^nd person to enter as #1 in the Royal Rumble and go on to win the event. He won the World Heavyweight title from TripleH later in the year.

Benoit’s signature moves include the Diving Headbutt, Rolling German Suplexes, and the ‘most painful move ever’ The Crippler Crossface. (Believe me, it hurts!) His championships include the World Heavyweight Title, the US Title, several Tag Team titles, and Intercontinental titles, which were mainly won during his early feud with Chris Jericho. Benoit is also known for his close camaraderie with wrestler Eddie Guerrero, who died last year. When Benoit won the World Heavyweight Title in 2004, at the end of the show, he and Eddie, who was reigning WWE Champion, stood and celebrated in front of the crowd at Madison Square Garden.

Nobody knows why he killed his wife and kid, but let me tell you that wrestlers live really hard lives. Unless you’re a champion, you don’t get paid all that much. And you have to spend ~350 days on the road. NWA-TNA has all their shows in one location, so their wrestlers don’t have to travel around, but the WWE has their shows all around the world and so the wrestlers have to travel all over the globe. Imagine being on the road for 350 days in a year! Plus, a lot of wrestlers take body enhancing drugs, which has many side effects including random outbursts of anger, also known as ‘Roid Rage’. Who knows whether Benoit was in his right mind when he did it. He must’ve been under the influence of some drugs. Investigations are still going on into the cause of his death.

So RIP, Chris Benoit, The Canadian Crippler, and thank you for all the great moments!