Chris Benoit is a legend in pro wrestling but his name is like Voldemort in Titan Towers because Benoit is “he who shall not be named.” After the tragic occurrences surrounding his death Benoit’s name was scratched from WWE history which is a shame because he participated in some amazing matches.
On a recent episode of Talk Is Jericho, The Ayatollah Of Rock n Rolla had Dave Meltzer on the show and the two discussed Chris Benoit’s career. It’s been ten years since the unspeakable acts committed on that weekend in June, 2007 but his memory lives on.
Y2J and Benoit got to be pretty close as they ended up touring Japan together and working in WCW and WWE at the same time. But Jericho opened up on the podcast about something that happened early on that almost sent his career in an entirely different direction.
“When I first started in Calgary I was training at the Silver Dollar Action Center with Lance Storm and a cast of miscreants that will never be heard from again — and there was a local promoter called Bob Puppets, that was actually his real name believe it or not. And he said he was gonna book me on my first show and he said he wanted to call me Rob Benoit, Chris Benoit’s little brother because he thought I looked like him so much.”
It would be hard to imagine knowing Chris Jericho as Rob Benoit, but as it turns out at least one promoter thought that was a good idea.
There is no way to excuse the horrific actions of Benoit during the final weekend of his life. It’s also hard to ignore the amazing impact he had on the pro wrestling business. It is nearly impossible to tell the story of pro wrestling without mentioning Chris Benoit, even though WWE might be doing their best.
If you are able to remember the man for his unforgettable ability in the ring and not focus on the events of his death there are few better wrestling matches to watch than anything featuring the man we once called The Wolverine.
If you use any portion of the quotes in this article please credit Talk Is Jericho with a H/T to Still Real To Us for the transcription
