Chris Benoit

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Template:Infobox Wrestler

Christopher Michael Benoît (born May 21 1967 in Montréal, Québec), is a French-Canadian professional wrestler currently wrestling for World Wrestling Entertainment on its Smackdown! brand. Benoit, who grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, is widely known as one of the most technically proficient and skilled athletes in the pro wrestling world today. He 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. He has held many titles in numerous promotions, the most prestigious being WWE's World Heavyweight Championship.

Contents

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Early career

Chris began his career in 1986 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.

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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", a reference to a match in which he accidentally broke the neck of Sabu. 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 these long monologue promos to give him the chance to come out of his shell and to give him 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 flat out 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.

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World Championship Wrestling

Benoit was quickly was made a member of the reformed Four Horsemen in 1995, alongside Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Brian Pillman. When Pillman abruptly left the company for the WWF, Benoit was placed in an ongoing feud with Kevin Sullivan (who was a booker), and booked a feud in which Benoit was having an affair with Sullivan's real life wife Woman. Forced to spend time together to make the affair look real, (hold hands in public, share hotel rooms etc) Benoit and Nancy developed feelings for each other and began having a real affair. Nancy left Sullivan and WCW in 1997. Benoit beat Sullivan in a retirement match, but Sullivan continued to use his booking status to hold Benoit back.

Later that year, Benoit had a rivalry going with Booker T. Both men had trained at winning the WCW Television Championship, but both were unsuccessful. This led to a competition to see who would go on to be the number one contender for the title. This set up the Best-of-Seven series. Benoit won the first three falls, and Booker came back to tie it all up. Their final match was set before the Great American Bash. While the referee was down, Bret Hart came to interfere on behalf of Benoit, in hopes of him joining the New World Order. Benoit refused, and told the referee what happened, and got himself disqualified. Booker thought it was a hollow victory, so they were to have a match the Bash to see who go on to fight Dave Finlay later that night. Both made a valiant effort with Benoit delivering suplexes and Booker giving a multitude of hard kicks. It ended with a missile dropkick by Booker, and he went on to fight Finlay for the belt later that night. This elevated both men's careers considerably as singles competitors, and both would remain at the top of the midcard with their matches.

In 1999, he resumed teaming with new Horseman and former ECW partner Dean Malenko, and a series of WCW World Tag Team Championship matches with Raven and Perry Saturn were among the best of the year. Benoit and Malenko defeated Curt Hennig and Barry Windham to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship, and later in 1999 he would win the United States title as well. He formed the "Revolution" team with Malenko, Saturn, and Shane Douglas around this time, highlighting his unhappiness with WCW management.

Benoit's most notable match of 1999 would be his match with Bret Hart on WCW Nitro in October 1999, in Kansas City. The match was a tribute to Owen Hart, in the building where Owen had died. In November, he wrestled Bret in Toronto, Ontario in the finals of a World Heavyweight title tournament. He lost that match, and by January 2000, WCW had made their last try at keeping him, giving him the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in a victory over Sid Vicious. However, Benoit forfeited the title the next day when he decided to depart for the World Wrestling Federation, with Guerrero, Saturn, and Malenko, to protest the promotion of Kevin Sullivan as head booker.

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World Wrestling Entertainment

Two weeks after being granted their release from WCW, Benoit, Malenko, Saturn and Guerrero made their WWF TV debuts on Raw, coming out of the crowd to attack the New Age Outlaws. They were dubbed The Radicalz. After the group turned heel, Benoit was quickly put into a feud with Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle, and in April 2000 he won his first championship in the WWF, the Intercontinental Title. Because of how often he defended his WWF Intercontinental Title, Chris Benoit has been called the "fightingest" Intercontinental Champion in WWF history. A high-profile feud with The Rock (who was the WWF Champion at the time) filled out the remainder of 2000. In fact, Benoit "won" the WWF title twice during 2000, but both times the decision was reversed both times by then "Commissioner" Mick Foley and the match restarted due to Benoit's cheating.

He remained the Intercontinental Champion into 2001, which he lost the belt to Chris Jericho in a ladder match at the Royal Rumble. He eventually turned face, and had a match against Kurt Angle at WrestleMania X-Seven. The two had a match with a great deal of mat and chain wrestling, but Angle won, via cheating, and started a feud between the two, during which they had a variety of specialty matches. One was an "ultimate submission" match, which Benoit won 4-3, at sudden death overtime. That led to a three falls match at Judgment Day with one fall being a ladder match with Angle's medals suspended above the ring, because Benoit stole them and put them in his pants. Angle won, due to Edge and Christian's appearance. In May, they would have a steel cage match. Benoit was about to win, when Steve Austin closed the door on his face. Angle climbed out the other way for the win.

In May 2001, Benoit would later team with old rival, Chris Jericho, to defeat Triple H and Steve Austin in a match for the WWE World Tag Team Championship. The same week, Vince McMahon booked the new champions in a TLC Match against the masters of the match: Edge & Christian, The Hardy Boyz, and the Dudley Boyz. This would be the first TLC match to be shown on network television, which Jericho and Benoit won. This would also be known as "The Forgotten TLC", because it was a randomly made match to punish Benoit and Jericho. They held on to the titles for a month, before losing it to the Dudley Boyz.

At King of the Ring, Benoit was put in a triple threat for the WWF Championship against the champion, Austin, and former partner, Jericho. In the match, Benoit had landed hard on his neck. Benoit underwent major neck surgery in June of 2001. He ruptured a disc, which fragmented into his spinal column. The injury required spinal fusion surgery, which sidelined Benoit for the rest of 2001. This injury is played on every warning before a WWE PPV starts or WWE DVD.

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The Return

During the first WWE Draft he was picked by McMahon 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. He, and Eddie Guerrero, were then moved to Smackdown during a storyline "open season" on wrestler contracts, with Benoit bringing his newly won Intercontinental championship with him briefly before Rob Van Dam defeated Jeff Hardy in a Number 1 Contenders match and returned the title to RAW.

After returning to SmackDown!, in October he was crowned the first winner of the WWE Tag Team Titles, alongside foe and partner Kurt Angle. They both turned face again by betraying Los Guerreros. The two made an impressive combination, but they could not stand each other.

Angle won his third WWE Championship from the Big Show, and Benoit faced him for the title at Royal Rumble 2003. Though Benoit lost the match, he received a standing ovation for his efforts. At WrestleMania XIX, the WWE Tag Team Champions, Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin, would have to put their belts on the line against Benoit and his partner Rhyno, and Los Guerreros in a triple threat match. Team Angle retained by pinning Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Benoit stayed at the middle of the card for the next few months, feuding with John Cena and the Full Blooded Italians, and teaming with Rhyno occasionally. In June 2003, the United States Championship was reactivated, and Benoit participated in the tournament for the belt, first beating Rhyno, then Matt Hardy in the second round, but losing the final to Eddie Guerrero. Benoit was now in major title hunts, and had a great rise in popularity. He would defeat the likes of A-Train, Big Show, and Brock Lesnar by submission. General Manager Paul Heyman wanted to hurt Benoit, so he made his life difficult. When he won a Royal Rumble qualifying match, he was placed in the number one contender spot.

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World Heavyweight Champion

On January 25 2004, Benoit won the 2004 Royal Rumble, 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 and the fact that there were effectively two world champions due to the brand split, Benoit exploited a "loophole" in the rules and challenged World Heavyweight Champion Triple H instead of the WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. This "loophole" clause has become standard storyline practice, with the Royal Rumble winner being free to choose which title he will challenge for.

With this win, Benoit became one of only two men to enter at #1 and win the Royal Rumble (Shawn Michaels was the first) and he set the record for being in a Rumble match the longest at 1:01:34, narrowly surpassing Bob Backlund's record of slightly over an hour (1:01:10), while Shawn Michaels' Rumble win, and even surpassing Ric Flair's legendary record of 59:26. However this record would be surpassed by Rey Mysterio two years later, at the Royal Rumble 2006 (Mysterio would enter at #2).

Though the match was originally intended to be a one-on-one match, Shawn Michaels, whose Last Man Standing match against Triple H at the Royal Rumble for the World Heavyweight Championship ended in a draw, thought that he deserved to be in the main event. When it was time for Benoit to sign the contract putting himself in the main event, Michaels superkicked him and signed his name on the contract, which eventually resulted in a Triple Threat Match between Michaels, Benoit, and then champion Triple H.

On March 14 2004, at WrestleMania XX, in what is considered by many to be one of the most memorable moments in WWE history, Chris Benoit won the World Heavyweight Championship by forcing Triple H to tap out to his signature move, the Crippler Crossface. It marked the first time the main event of a WrestleMania ended in submission. After the match, an emotional Benoit celebrated his win with his good friend, the late Eddie Guerrero, the then reigning WWE Champion. The two of them came to WWE together and on that day, they were standing in the ring at Madison Square Garden, both of them world champions.

This was Benoit's first official WWE World title win - he had "won" the WWF Title on two occasions, once at Fully Loaded and once at Unforgiven 2000. However, both times the decision was over-ruled. Besides his single day reign as WCW World Heavyweight Champion, this was Benoit's first real World Heavyweight Title reign in any promotion. The triple threat was hailed by many fans as one of the year's best matches. The rematch was held at Backlash in Benoit's hometown of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Benoit once again came out the winner, this time making Shawn Michaels tap out to the Sharpshooter.

On August 15 2004, Chris Benoit was defeated by Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. His reign had lasted 5 months, with 7 straight pay-per-view victories. Benoit would stay on RAW with moderate success until June of 2005.

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Return to SmackDown!

On June 9 2005, returned to SmackDown! after being the first man selected by the Smackdown side in the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery. Benoit appeared at ECW One Night Stand, defeating Eddie Guerrero and at the end of the night delivered a flying headbutt to his former WCW boss and former RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff.

On July 24 2005 at The Great American Bash in Buffalo, New York, Benoit failed to win the WWE United States Championship from Orlando Jordan. Benoit faced Orlando Jordan in a rematch for the United States Championship at SummerSlam 2005. Benoit defeated Jordan in 25 seconds with the Crippler Crossface to win the title. On the next two editions of SmackDown!, Benoit defeated Jordan by submission in 23.4 seconds and 22.5 seconds. Two weeks later, Benoit defeated Jordan by submission in 49.8 seconds.

Chris Benoit appeared on RAW on November 14 2005 (taped on the November 13, the same day as the death of Eddie Guerrero), for Guerrero's tribute show hosted by both RAW and SmackDown! superstars. Benoit was very emotional during a series of video testimonials, which was a testament to the friendship that endured between Benoit and Guerrero throughout both men's careers. The same week on SmackDown! (also taped on the 13th), Benoit defeated Triple H in a remarkable tribute match to his fallen friend. Following the contest, Benoit, HHH, and Dean Malenko all assembled in the ring and pointed to the sky in salute of Guerrero.

After controversy surrounding a title defense against Booker T, Theodore Long set up a "best of seven" series between the two. Booker T won three times in a row, due largely to his wife's interference, and Chris Benoit faced elimination in the series. Benoit would win the fourth match to stay alive, but Booker then suffered a legitimate groin injury. Randy Orton was chosen as a stand-in, and Benoit defeated Orton twice by disqualification. However, in the 7th and final match, Orton defeated Benoit with the help of Booker T, Sharmell, and Orlando Jordan, and Booker T captured the U.S. title. However, at No Way Out, Benoit got revenge on Booker making him tap out to the Crossface to win the United States Championship.

At WrestleMania 22, Benoit lost the U.S. Championship to JBL. Benoit used his rematch clause on April 14 for JBL's U.S. Championship which he lost after a low blow from Bradshaw. Benoit is also slated to face Finlay in the first round of the new King of the Ring tournament.

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Wrestling facts

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Finishing and signature moves

Image:Crossface.jpg

  • As Chris Benoit
  • Tag Team Moves as Chris Benoit
  • As Pegasus Kid and Wild Pegasus
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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.

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Trivia

  • 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 (including his one-day WCW World Heavyweight Title reign) 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. He is also the only born Canadian to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
  • 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".
  • 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".
  • Although 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 5 times, whilst Matt Hardy has jumped show 4 times.
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Championships and accomplishments

Image:Benoit and Guerrero celebrate at WrestleMania XX.jpg

  • 4-time British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Champion
  • 4-time Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Champion
  • 1993 Top of the Super Junior tournament
  • 1994 Super J Cup tournament
  • 1995 Best of the Super Junior tournament
  • He is a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (inducted in 2003)
  • 1994 Best Technical Wrestler
  • 1995 Best Technical Wrestler
  • 1998 Most Underrated Wrestler
  • 2000 Most Outstanding Wrestler
  • 2000 Best Technical Wrestler
  • 2002 Match of the Year (with Kurt Angle vs Edge and Rey Mysterio)
  • 2003 Best Technical Wrestler
  • 2004 Most Outstanding Wrestler
  • 2004 Feud of the Year (vs Triple H and Shawn Michaels)
  • 2004 Best Technical Wrestler
  • 2004 Best Brawler
  • PWI ranked him # 69 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003.
  • He also won three PWI Awards in 2004. He won Wrestler of the Year, Feud of the Year (vs. Triple H) and Match of the Year (vs. Shawn Michaels and Triple H)
  • PWI ranked him # 1 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of 2004.
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Championship succession

Template:Start box | colspan = 3 align = center | Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Wayne Farris & Ron Starr | width = 40% align = center | First w/ Ben Bassarab | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Wayne Farris & Cuban Assassin |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Wayne Farris & Cuban Assassin | width = 40% align = center | Second w/ Keith Hart | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Duke Myers & Kerry Brown |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
The Cuban Commandos | width = 40% align = center | Third w/ Lance Idol | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
The Cuban Commandos |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Makhan Singh & Vokkan Singh | width = 40% align = center | Fourth w/ Biff Wellington | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Bob Brown & Kerry Brown |- | colspan = 3 align = center | British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Gama Singh | width = 40% align = center | First | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Johnny Smith |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Johnny Smith | width = 40% align = center | Second | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Johnny Smith |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Johnny Smith | width = 40% align = center | Third | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Johnny Smith |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Johnny Smith | width = 40% align = center | Fourth | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Gama Singh |- | colspan = 3 align = center | IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Jushin Thunder Liger | width = 40% align = center | First | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Jushin Thunder Liger |- | colspan = 3 align = center | ECW Tag-Team Championship |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Sabu & Tazmaniac | width = 40% align = center | First w/ Dean Malenko | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
The Public Enemy (professional wrestling) |- | colspan = 3 align = center | WCW World Television Championship |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Booker T | width = 40% align = center | First | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Booker T |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Booker T | width = 40% align = center | Second | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Booker T |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Rick Steiner | width = 40% align = center | Third | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Rick Steiner |- | colspan = 3 align = center | WCW World Tag Team Championship |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Barry Windham & Curt Hennig | width = 40% align = center | First w/ Dean Malenko | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Rey Mysterio Jr. & Billy Kidman |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Diamond Dallas Page & Kanyon | width = 40% align = center | Second w/ Perry Saturn | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
New Jersey Triad |- | colspan = 3 align = center | WCW US Heavyweight Title |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
David Flair | width = 40% align = center | First | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Sid Vicious |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Jeff Jarrett | width = 40% align = center | Second | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Jeff Jarrett |- | colspan = 3 align = center | WCW World Heavyweight Championship |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Bret Hart (injury forced Hart to vacate, Benoit defeats Sid Vicious | width = 40% align = center | First | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
vacant |- | colspan = 3 align = center | WWE Intercontinental Championship |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Kurt Angle | width = 40% align = center | First | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Chris Jericho |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Chris Jericho | width = 40% align = center | Second | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Rikishi Phatu |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Billy Gunn | width = 40% align = center | Third | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Chris Jericho |- | colspan = 3 align = center | World Tag Team Championship |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Stone Cold Steve Austin & Triple H | width = 40% align = center | First w/ Chris Jericho | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
The Dudley Boyz |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Ric Flair & Batista | width = 40% align = center | Second w/ Edge | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Sylvain Grenier & Rob Conway |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Sylvain Grenier & Rob Conway | width = 40% align = center | Third w/ Edge | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Sylvain Grenier & Rob Conway |- | colspan = 3 align = center | WWE Tag-Team Championship |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
first-ever | width = 40% align = center | First w/ Kurt Angle | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Edge & Rey Mysterio Jr. |- | colspan = 3 align = center | WWE United States Championship |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Orlando Jordan | width = 40% align = center | First | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Booker T |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Booker T | width = 40% align = center | Second | width = 30% align = center | Succeded by:
John Layfield |- | colspan = 3 align = center | World Heavyweight Championship |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Triple H | width = 40% align = center | First | width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Randy Orton |- | colspan = 3 align = center | Royal Rumble |- | width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Brock Lesnar | width = 40% align = center | First (2004) | width = 30% align = center | Followed by:
Batista |- Template:End box

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Records

  • Chris Benoit is the only person to win a Iron Man Match for the World Heavyweight Championship belt, as he successfully defended the title against Triple H on the July 26 2004 edition of RAW.
  • Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle were the first WWE Tag Team Champions in WWE Smackdown! They lost to Edge and Rey Mysterio.
  • Chris Benoit has held every major title in WWE except the WWE Championship.
  • Chris Benoit became the second person to win the Royal Rumble match with the #1 draw. The first was Shawn Michaels in 1995. Chris Benoit won the Royal Rumble match in 2004, by eliminating The Big Show last.
  • Chris Benoit is the third shortest WWE World Heavyweight Champion, behind the late Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio, at a billed height of 5 ft 10 in. Benoit is 5 ft 8.5 legitimately.
  • Chris Benoit is the second lightest WWE World Heavyweight Champion (behind Rey Mysterio), at a billed weight of 220 pounds (100 kg.)
  • Chris Benoit had the record for staying in a Royal Rumble the longest time, up to the 2006 Royal Rumble match. In the Royal Rumble 2004 (which he won), he stayed in there for 61:37, surpassed by Rey Mysterio's 62:28.
  • Chris Benoit won the WWE United States Championship in 25.5 seconds, the shortest match held for that title that resulted in the championship changing owners.
  • Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, and Goldberg are the only former WCW World Heavyweight Champions to hold the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Belt.
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External links

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