I never liked the crippler

[chimpoehurricane]

He always seemed off and unlikable. And a headbutt from the top rope seemed like a brain damage signature move.

Brutal ending for family. Rip.

 

[Pittie Petey]

Thought this was gonna be about Rip Oliver

 

[StonedLemur]

Id say it has more to do with his steroid and drug use and losing his best friend.

Still an absolute piece of garbage for what he did though.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Brutal ending for family. Rip.

Obvious statement is obvious.

Benoit's fans prefer to remember him for his in-ring work, which Paul Heyman himself have Benoit's in-ring work praise as 'Top 5 he's ever seen' in a rant calling out a Benoit fanboy for asking him if he should be in the WWE hall-of-fame.



Think how high of a compliment that is.Heyman has been in the business for 40 years, ever since being employed by Vince McMahon Sr as a ringside photographer. He's seen HBK, Flair, Undertaker, Hogan, CM Punk, Lesnar, Orton, RVD, Mike Awesome, Rock, Cena, Austin, Reigns, and a dozen others that are reasonably on many's Top 10 lists for their ring-work.... and Benoit is on Heyman's Top 5 list.

But, the rest of his rant is also 100% valid. What Benoit did at the end of his life 100% soiled everything he did in the ring.

Personally, Benoit's in-ring work should be on every young wrestler's short list of wrestlers to study, to emulate at first and develop their own style around. But they should never acknowledge it in interviews because Benoit's legacy is tainted, as it should be.

 

[jx820]

As much as CTE should be a part of how that guy is discussed and it is certainly linked to violence this case was such an outlier in terms of severity and horror that I think it's very dismissive when people place that as the single reason.

Hundreds or thousands or people a year get CTE. Lots of those people take steroids. Lots of them abuse various drugs. He's the only one that went that far off the rails.

 

[RichardPriors]

Thought this was going to be about Ray Stevens and I wasn't going to stand for any slander.

But Benoit remains one of my favorite in ring performers as well. He was the absolute cream of the crop wherever and whenever he wrestled, Dynamite Kid 2.0.

The CTE probably played a big part but even in his early days I heard about him being volatile and a bully/enforcer.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Off topic - I've always thought Crispin Wah would be a great screename.

 

[Red Beard]

Off topic - I've always thought Crispin Wah would be a great screename.

 

[Deleted member 449757]

I didn't like his wrestling style. But i didn't like Tommy Billington's either. Very skillful though and great titantron with his son screaming.

 

[My Spot]

Harley Race was telling him in the late 90s to stop doing a shoot diving headbutt.

 

[ryun253]

He was one of my favorites, I was young didn't know about Nancy & Kevin Sullivan being married before Benoit. Their rivalry felt spooky even as a kid. CTE or not though, he's a POS

 

[RichardPriors]

He was one of my favorites, I was young didn't know about Nancy & Kevin Sullivan being married before Benoit. Their rivalry felt spooky even as a kid. CTE or not though, he's a POS