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[Guest Real F'n Show]

True. In their J-Cup '95 (I think) match, Benoit busted out the Liontamer on Jericho. It was quite odd to see.

Yeah, that happened in their J-Cup match from 1995. I thought it was great to see him use the Liontamer on Jericho, it surprised me. So did Jericho actually use that move himself in those days or what?

I don't think so. I never saw him do it in ECW. I think he borrowed it from Benoit after he joined WCW.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Benoit's high angled Boston crab was one of his trademark moves from about 93 to sometime in 96.

[CanadianChick 0]

Here's the first of four Q&A with Benoit:

 

Chris Benoit Q &A,

The Early Years, pt. 1 of 4

Throughout the month of July, WWE.com will conduct an in-depth, four-part Q & A with Chris Benoit. Here is part 1: The Early Years

 

WWE.com: Growing up, who were some of your biggest influences?

Chris Benoit: “I patterned myself so much after the Dynamite Kid. I mean when I was in junior high, I was shaving my head whenever he’d shave his head. I tried to emulate him so much. Looking back now, I kinda laugh about it, but that’s how big of a fan I was. Back then, he was a part of group called Foley’s Army, with a man named John Foley as the manager, and believe me, in my own world, I was also in Foley’s Army.”

 

WWE.com: At what age/moment did you know you wanted to be a professional wrestler?

Benoit: “I’ve always been a fan of wrestling. I remember watching my first wrestling match when I was 3 years old. It was Andre the Giant against three other guys, just throwing them around. I started attending matches when I was about 11 or 12. My dad and my grandfather used to take me to the old Pavilion in Edmonton to watch Stampede Wrestling, and it was the first time that I really laid eyes on the Dynamite Kid. I used to love watching him wrestle Bret [Hart], Davey Boy [smith], Bad News Allen (Brown) and the Cobra in some real memorable matches. It was just the way he carried himself in the ring, his poise, his confidence, and his ability. He was just so mechanical with everything he did. It was like he never wasted a move. He just went into the ring, kicked BUTT and asked questions later. So, from that time on, I realized that that was what I wanted to be, and I’ve been a lifelong fan since.”

 

WWE.com: How did you hook up with Stu Hart?

Benoit: “When I first started training, I started going to the matches and eventually got to know the people in Edmonton who would set up the ring and set up the chairs. I eventually started setting up the chairs with them, then setting up the ring with them. And then after we got the ring set up, we’d get in the ring and start horsing around. Eventually they started introducing me to the wrestlers, and slowly but surely I started talking to them and when I was about 17, I finally got the opportunity to talk to Stu Hart. He asked me if I was interested in wrestling, and I told him that it was my lifelong dream. So he invited me down to Calgary to train. So I’d finish up high school on a Friday, go to the bus station, take a Greyhound down to Calgary, and started training over the weekend. Then on Sunday night, I’d get back on the bus and head back up to Edmonton so that I could go back to school. I did this every weekend until the summer came.”

 

WWE.com: Who else trained with you in Canada?

Benoit: “There wasn’t ever really a class. I mean there were guys coming in and guys going out all the time. I got to spend a lot of time training with a Japanese wrestler named Mr. Hito, and another wrestler named Mike Hanna, and I got to fool around with Owen Hart. There were just a lot of people coming in and going out, and I chuckle sometimes thinking back on some of the guys who came in. There would be guys who were like 6 foot 5, 280 pounds, strong as an ox, bragging ‘I can do this stuff.’ Then Stu would call them down to the basement, and all of a sudden these guys were whimpering like little school kids. It was educational, but also an awakening at the same time, because people were walking around talking about how easy it is, and that, but when you’re watching and you see somebody in there that does make it look easy, that’s because they’re that good. It’s a true craft, and that’s the way I was taught: to respect it and to never stop learning. And that’s one thing Stu passed on to me.”

 

WWE.com: Tell us about your first match. Where was it? Who was it against?

Benoit: “I was 18. It was me and Rick Patterson against Mike Hammer and Carl Moffit.”

 

WWE.com: What did your family think of you wanting to become a professional wrestler?

Benoit: “They encouraged me all the way. They were fans, but I think more so they saw how much of a fan I was. I mean my family was into it as well, but I think they really just enjoyed watching me enjoy myself.”

 

WWE.com: When your career started, what was your ultimate goal? Was it WWE?

Benoit: “Back when I was breaking in, the only wrestling show that I’d ever seen had been Stampede Wrestling, because we didn’t get WWE on TV there at the time. So to me, it was the biggest thing in the world to wrestle for Stampede.”

 

WWE.com: Looking back now, who do you think provided you with most of the wrestling knowledge you have today?

Benoit: “Stu Hart. He’d show us tough love by stretching us in the basement. At the time, I did most of my training in the ring with the young Harts, Mr. Hito, Mike Hanna and others, and after we got done with that, Stu would drag us down to the basement and wrap us up like pretzels until our eyes were ready to pop out of your head. And I loved it. Stu taught about respect and dignity, and he never took advantage of me. I mean he tried to, because wanted to see if I was cut from the right kind of cloth and if I could take punishment, but Stu always treated everyone the same. Some people made it through and some people didn’t. I respect that, because I think that it’s a shame sometimes to see some people that get in, and it happens, that don’t really belong, and once they’ve been in for a while, they decide that it wasn’t really for them. I feel that all of that should all be predetermined in their training.”

 

I'm guessing that he is refering to Lesner in that last answer.

 

I never knew that he started training when in high school. That's dedication.

Edited July 14, 2004 by CanadianChick

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

HEHE, he said him and Owen "fooled around", HEHE.

 

HEHEHE, he said Stu tried to "take advantage" of him, HEHEHEHE

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

The last time I remember seeing Benoit use the Liontamer on a regular basis was at Fall Brawl 1996 against Jericho. He did manage to bring it out of mothballs against Angle at Backlash 2001.

[Epic Reine 0]

Benoit also used the Liontamer during the Benoit-Kurt submissions only portion of their 2/3 Falls match at JDay 2001, leading up to him and Jericho teaming later that night in the Tag Team turmoil/gauntlet match.