Smackdown Taping SPOILERS for this week !!

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

For all the time Chris Benoit spent in the main event picture, which was only to play third wheel in the Hunter/Shawn or Hunter/Eugene feuds, Benoit was no more World Champion than Sgt Slaughter, Kane or, more recently, Chris Jericho. Benoit, like those three, got the belt not to have any kind of real run but to drop it someone else. Chris Benoit might have been given the world title, but he wasn't made world champion.

[pochorenella 0]

And Benoit didn't own HHH in 2004. In fact, Benoit never pinned or made him submit cleanly one on one. That's not owning someone especially when HHH got at least one victory in there

 

I believe Benoit got several falls over Triple H via pinfall or submission on their RAW Iron Man match back in 2004. The final fall wasn't clean IIRC but the ones before I think were.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I'm sorry WP, I just don't agree with you on this matter and there is no way we can prove what would have turned out better. Your ideas are great in theory, but you're not thinking like a booker or as a promotion trying to make money.

 

People don't remember the Benoit loss or running from Heyman. They remember the Rumble win and the main event of Mania. Benoit is not the guy that can be the focus of the promotion. The company rewarded him with a victory at the biggest PPV of all time against the company's biggest star. You may not have liked Shawn's inclusion, but you can't sell Benoit-HHH as the main event of Mania. You just can't, and so they created a compelling story with what they had.

 

You can't do Benoit-Lesnar at Mania because of the Lesnar-Goldberg factor. And if you do it at No Way Out, what are your title matches for Mania 20? There are many other pieces to put together in booking a promotion, you don't just chuck it all aside because of Benoit. Sorry.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

And Benoit didn't own HHH in 2004. In fact, Benoit never pinned or made him submit cleanly one on one. That's not owning someone especially when HHH got at least one victory in there

 

I believe Benoit got several falls over Triple H via pinfall or submission on their RAW Iron Man match back in 2004. The final fall wasn't clean IIRC but the ones before I think were.

Benoit won final fall thanks to Eugene. The focus of that ended up on Eugene for costing Hunter the match, not on Benoit beating Hunter.

[Guest wildpegasus]

I'm sorry WP, I just don't agree with you on this matter and there is no way we can prove what would have turned out better. Your ideas are great in theory, but you're not thinking like a booker or as a promotion trying to make money.

 

People don't remember the Benoit loss or running from Heyman. They remember the Rumble win and the main event of Mania. Benoit is not the guy that can be the focus of the promotion. The company rewarded him with a victory at the biggest PPV of all time against the company's biggest star. You may not have liked Shawn's inclusion, but you can't sell Benoit-HHH as the main event of Mania. You just can't, and so they created a compelling story with what they had.

 

You can't do Benoit-Lesnar at Mania because of the Lesnar-Goldberg factor. And if you do it at No Way Out, what are your title matches for Mania 20? There are many other pieces to put together in booking a promotion, you don't just chuck it all aside because of Benoit. Sorry.

 

 

 

I wouldn't chuck everything to the side just because of Benoit. Don't worry about that.

 

Booked properly, Benoit (as well as a good amount of others) could be the main focus of the promotion. And it's been his WWE tenure that's convinced me of that.

 

I don't think HHH was a better guy for Benoit to go over at all either (as compared to Lesnar) even without taking storylines into consideration. A lot of people weren't buying into him at the time.

[Guest wildpegasus]

When will the Velocity Benoit vs Regal match be online? Anyone?

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Probably starting some time on Saturday.

[Guest ChampKind]

Rather than addressing the point I made, you post something sarcastic Pegasus. That's fine since I'm more of a lurker than a poster.

 

You can't back up your claims that everyone who says Benoit had a decent reign is wrong. YOU CAN'T. His reign was really one of the better in the last five years in WWE. Is that good in the pantheon of wrestling championships? Of course not. Is that good in the post-Invasion era of WWF(E)? Absolutely.

 

That may not be saying much, but he wasn't buried in the way Misterio has been, or Jericho was. Not even close. Benoit had a better reign than Goldberg. He had a better reign than Shawn Michaels. He had a better reign than Randy Orton. He had a better reign than the Big Show. He even had a better reign than Kurt freakin' Angle has had in that time.

[Fökai 0]

And Benoit didn't own HHH in 2004. In fact, Benoit never pinned or made him submit cleanly one on one. That's not owning someone especially when HHH got at least one victory in there

 

In that period, no, Hunter never beat Benoit in any fashion. I don't think he even got his job back when Benoit went back down the card.

[Hawk 34 0]

And Benoit didn't own HHH in 2004. In fact, Benoit never pinned or made him submit cleanly one on one. That's not owning someone especially when HHH got at least one victory in there

 

In that period, no, Hunter never beat Benoit in any fashion. I don't think he even got his job back when Benoit went back down the card.

 

Yes, he got his job back.

[Dark Age 0]

You can't back up your claims that everyone who says Benoit had a decent reign is wrong. YOU CAN'T. His reign was really one of the better in the last five years in WWE. Is that good in the pantheon of wrestling championships? Of course not. Is that good in the post-Invasion era of WWF(E)? Absolutely.

 

 

He had good matches, sure. But, honestly, a good, meaningful reign? I think not. A decent run? No, not really. He wasn't really the champion, just some guy who just happened to have the belt. Was he ever the centerpiece? No. Did they ever build the show around him? Again, no. He was given respect as a competitor but that was it. It was "oh Benoit he's a great wrestler, and now he's champion, too". Never, though, was he seen as anything more than a great wrestler. Look at Benoit's run with the belt. Imagine those 5 months if Benoit wasn't champion. Would it have been ANY different at all? Not particularly. Bad Blood, he was champ, in a title match... he didn't main event. Triple H and Shawn did. Vengeance he did main event, with Triple H, but who was the focus on come the end of the show? H and Eugene, with Benoit nowhere in sight. Slam was one of the few times he really looked like the champ (and, of course, the time he loses the belt) but look at the buildup to that show. First Raw following Vengeance, Trips beats up Eugene. Oh, Benoit too! But especially Eugene. The next week he was in a midcard match with Batista to "hype" his main event the next week. That (iron man) match ended with, yep, Eugene costing Triple H the match. Benoit disappeared again. On the Raw prior to Slam it was Eugene beating up Triple H and Orton while Benoit just lay around. Eugene might as well have been the champion at this time. Or Triple H. It would have made no difference at all.