Chris Benoit is not a good heel

[Guest SlowChemical6]

I truly feel that Benoit and RVD could have had the ***** match that everybody was predicting if Benoit was a better heel. Don't get me wrong: I like the fact that he doesn't talk, and is all business in the ring. But he really needs something to get him over as a heel. He needs to at least sneer at the fans, or start blowing snot on his opponent, or do SOMETHING to make the fans want to boo him. The guy is very smooth and aggressive in the ring, which means that he should be trying extra hard to get people to hate him. It's easy to hate somebody when they suck in the ring. This is just my opinion. Every time that I have seen Benoit wrestle as a heel, he walks out to dead silence. Last night, I think I was the only one in my section making any noise for RVD/Benoit. When he hit the ring to dead silence, I was like, "Please, sneer at us, cuss us, hit the turnbuckles and give us a dirty look, do SOMETHING to make the marks boo you!". But instead he just hits the ring and shrugs his shoulders. RVD was over but the match would have been real hot if he had a heel that the people hated to work off of.

[Guest The Flying Dutchman]

He should just apply the Crossface to anyone and everyone post match. Simple but effective way of being an asshole.

[Guest CanadianHorseman]

That is all it would take. Remember his run in 2000?

[Guest SlowChemical6]

He was an asshole in 2000. Remember how he trashed The Rock's dressing room, put everybody in the Crossface, and even headbutted Steph? That's what he needs to do to get over.

[Guest godthedog]

i personally thought the match could've been ****1/2 if rvd had consistently SOLD THE ARM, but to each his own.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

RVD didn't sell the Arm in the first match either.

 

In a way, it'd take Benoit breaking his arm for real to get him to sell it.

[Guest Angle-plex]

i personally thought the match could've been ****1/2 if rvd had consistently SOLD THE ARM, but to each his own.

RVD sold the arm fine.

[Guest CanadianHorseman]

I thought it was ****1/4, but I LOVED the arm work, especially the rolling Northern Lights suplexes. RVD sold enough for my tastes.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

RVD didn't do any backflips again, did he?

[Guest Quik]

Agreed; Benoit doesn't do anything to actually get over as a heel.

 

Personally, I think he gets a better reaction as a face, but if they just let him kill people he;d definantly get heel heat.

[Guest chirs3]

RVD sold the arm just fine.

 

The Rolling Northern Lights was really cool - he should keep that.

[The Dames 0]

i personally thought the match could've been ****1/2 if rvd had consistently SOLD THE ARM, but to each his own.

RVD sold the arm fine.

There's no way he should have been able to do a cartwheel on a dead arm. Or pull himself up to the top with one leap for the *****. If anything, he should have climbed it.

 

Dames

[The Dames 0]

RVD didn't do any backflips again, did he?

Yeah...he did. Pissed me off after all that arm work.

 

Dames

[Guest Angle-plex]

i personally thought the match could've been ****1/2 if rvd had consistently SOLD THE ARM, but to each his own.

RVD sold the arm fine.

There's no way he should have been able to do a cartwheel on a dead arm. Or pull himself up to the top with one leap for the *****. If anything, he should have climbed it.

 

Dames

Well, he could have finished the match with a SPEAR~ and really no sell the arm.

 

That sounds familiar.............

[The Dames 0]

Hey, that took 1/2* from the match in my review. F'n Edge.

 

Dames

[Guest Brian]

Or he could have pulled himself up to the top rope to hit his finishing move.

[Guest godthedog]

edge also got a lot of other things right that rvd didn't--like taking the time to cover with his right arm, and acting hurt even while he was on offense. if you were to judge the 2 matches just on selling, you'd think that edge had gotten more damage on him than rvd. and benoit absolutely murdered that arm, with the surfboard stretch, northern lights, TWO CROSSFACES...he should've acted like it was hanging off of him.

 

oh, and after the match he held up the belt with his LEFT ARM. compare that to the 2001 rumble when the ref tries to lift up jericho's arm & he can't do it because of the pain.

[Guest Brian]

I agree, up until the spear Edge was doing a good job.

[Guest godthedog]

finally! someone else who thinks edge did a better job with the arm than rob van dam!

 

between that & the iron man match, you are now my favorite moderator.

[The Dames 0]

I agree, up until the spear Edge was doing a good job.

One other spot bugged the HELL out of me....

 

Edge hits the Edge-cution and lands on his left arm with the move...and doesn't sell it at all.

 

Dames

[Guest heat32]

Beniot has no heat anymore. He's just another ripped old guy with messed up hair attacking people from behind and yelling, "ARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!"

 

His early WWF and WCW, ECW, and Japan days were da shist, IMO.

[Guest Trivia247]

He should redevelop his ECW Heel personna and As he beats down RVD to a Pulp he calls out to the crowd IS THIS THE BEST AMERICA HAS TO OFFER? Worked at Double tables.

then Hit a Rolling Dragon Suplex YEA!

[Guest cynicalprofit]

Is it just me or did it seem like RVD got knocked up a little bit to hard and benoit was doing all the work?

 

I dont know, I just could ahve swore rvd got hit in the head and it looked like benoit was just doing 80% of the match. Which was pretty damn impressive if he was.

 

Man, edge needs to go to business school and learn how to sell.

[Guest Brian]

Benoit is hardly an old man.

 

It worked in ECW in a smaller, more personable crowd.

[Guest cabbageboy]

Here is something no one has mentioned: it is boring to watch a guy work the shoulder for 15 minutes. Especially in an RVD match. People do not want to see RVD have his shoulder worked for an entire match in a tedious mat based match. It's just not what he can do best. When I pay to see an RVD match I wanna see some crazy shit, wild spots, and fast action.

 

If it is almost impossible for top of the line pros like RVD and Edge to fake having their shoulder hurt for 15 minutes, AND the majority of the crowd finds it kinda boring, why do it?

 

There are other ways of having psychology in a match besides the old "work the arm, work the leg" stuff.

[Guest pete]

I think Benoit makes a great heel. One he is the best all around worker when it comes to matches in the WWE. As a heel because his selling is so much better than most of the heels he gets his babyface opponent over more. Should he go back to being the prick heel. Hell yes he should. He has that Tully Blanchard 4 Horseman chip on my shoulder heel.Then again he also makes a great face too.

[Guest Angle-plex]

There are other ways of having psychology in a match besides the old "work the arm, work the leg" stuff.

 

 

I agree, and I think the crowd in the arena (Who were very quiet for that match) agrees too.

[Guest Caliban]

Benoit hardly worked the crowd at all. Actually he did it just once - the spot where he crosses his throat before the Swandive headbutt.

 

I also feel the crowd was still bummed from the ending to the Tag Title match.

[Guest godthedog]

Here is something no one has mentioned: it is boring to watch a guy work the shoulder for 15 minutes.

so i guess flair/steamboat at wrestlewar 89 was boring?

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

This is something that confuses me. When a crowd is silent does that mean they are dead or that they are just watching intently?

 

Sorta like the Bischoff promo when he first arrived. The crowd was silent, and most people thought that the crowd was just confused or didn't care. But from my POV they were just listening. If the fans didn't care then they would be saying 'what'. (Which they tried to do for a brief second, but it died down very quickly.) Bischoff cut a killer promo that night and has been (reasonably) successful since, so would that make it true, that the fans WERE listening rather than being apathetic.

 

During the Tommy Dreamer/Stevie Richards match on RAW a month or so ago (w/ kendo sticks) the crowd didn't care and were silent for the most part. However, near the end they were getting rowdy, not just because weapons were being used but because Dreamer/Richards actually built a lil match where they sacrificed 3 minutes of silence for 1 minute of the crowd going bat-shit. Build up - Pay Off. That's how wrestling is generally done, or at least was done. Somewhere along the Crash-TV era an importance came on the crowd being active for every second of the show so that their attentions wouldn't stray. Every match was quick and there were lots of promos and gimmicks and shit like that, and it worked. But is that the case now? The style of 'build up/pay off' has been around for decades and works all over the world, it is time tested and true - why shouldn't it work today?