Mid 20th Century
171-667: Christopher Michael Benoit ( / b ə ˈ n w ɑː / bə- NWAH ; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian professional wrestler . He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career, but is notorious for murdering his wife and youngest son. Bearing the nicknames The (Canadian) Crippler alongside The Rabid Wolverine throughout his career, Benoit held 30 championships between World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW – all United States), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW – Japan), and Stampede Wrestling (Canada). He
342-562: A Michinoku Pro event called These Days . The match was promoted as a "Legends of High-Flying" six-man tag featuring Dynamite paired with Dos Caras and Kuniaki Kobayashi against the Great Sasuke , Mil Máscaras , and Tiger Mask. Dynamite's body had degenerated to the point where he was "practically skin and bones", as the bottom portion of his tights were very loose. In the end, Dynamite delivered his trademark tombstone piledriver on Great Sasuke, leading Dos Caras to powerbomb Sasuke for
513-435: A bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether the individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in
684-518: A ladder match . In October 1999 on Nitro in Kansas City, Missouri , Benoit wrestled Bret Hart as a tribute to Bret's brother Owen Hart , who had recently died due to an equipment malfunction . Hart defeated Benoit by submission, and the two received a standing ovation, and an embrace from guest ring announcer, Harley Race . Benoit was unhappy working for WCW. One last attempt in January 2000
855-415: A performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in the 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance
1026-415: A professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
1197-433: A three-day double-murder and suicide , Benoit murdered his wife in their residence on June 22, 2007, and his 7-year-old son the next day, before killing himself on June 24. The incident profoundly shocked and changed the professional wrestling industry and drew intense mainstream media criticism regarding brain injuries, substance abuse, and the long-term health of athletes in contact sports. Subsequent research undertaken by
1368-472: A tournament to crown the first-ever WWE Tag Team Champions . They became tweeners after betraying Los Guerreros . At Rebellion , Benoit and Angle made their successful title defence, defeating Los Guerreros . They lost the championships to Edge and Rey Mysterio on the November 7 episode of SmackDown! in a two-out-of-three falls match . They received a rematch at Survivor Series on November 17 in
1539-508: A triple threat elimination match against Edge and Mysterio and Los Guerreros, but failed to win the titles after being the first team eliminated. The team split up shortly afterward and Benoit became a face. Angle won his third WWE Championship from Big Show at Armageddon on December 15, and Benoit faced him for the title at the Royal Rumble on January 19, 2003. The match was highly praised from fans and critics. Although Benoit lost
1710-603: A Triple Threat match between Michaels, Benoit, and the champion, Triple H. At WrestleMania, Benoit won the World Heavyweight Championship by forcing Triple H to tap out to his signature submission move, the Crippler Crossface, in a highly acclaimed match. The match marked the first time the main event of a WrestleMania ended in submission. After the match, Benoit celebrated his win with then-reigning WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero. The rematch
1881-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
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#17327870719982052-532: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
2223-519: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
2394-585: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
2565-537: A cyst). A match was set up for the two at WrestleMania 22 on April 2 for Benoit's title, and for the next several weeks, they attacked each other. At WrestleMania, JBL won the match with an illegal cradle to win the title. Benoit used his rematch clause two weeks later in a steel cage match on SmackDown! , but JBL again won with illegal tactics. Benoit entered the King of the Ring tournament, only to be defeated by Finlay in
2736-423: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Dynamite Kid Thomas Wilton Billington (5 December 1958 – 5 December 2018), best known by
2907-404: A distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by the broader public. In the United States, wrestling
3078-626: A draw three consecutive times. In 1983, Kid made his debut to the United States working for Pacific Northwest Wrestling where he feuded with Curt Hennig . Eventually he won the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight title from Hennig on 7 September. A month later he dropped the title from Billy Jack Haynes . Then in November he teamed up with The Assassin and won the Pacific Northwest Tag titles from Curt Hennig and Buddy Rose . A month later they dropped
3249-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
3420-530: A hotel bar frequented by NWA wrestlers, including Ric Flair . He was also involved in heated backstage fights with Jacques Rougeau , one of which led to Rougeau hitting him with a fistful of quarters as he opened a door holding a cup of coffee, knocking several of his teeth out. Billington claimed the Rougeau incident was not the final straw that drove him to leave the WWF, but rather a dispute with WWF management over
3591-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
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#17327870719983762-514: A lengthy feud with Johnny Smith that lasted for over a year, which both men traded back-and-forth the British Commonwealth title. In 1989, Stampede closed its doors, and with a recommendation from Bad News Allen , Benoit departed for New Japan Pro-Wrestling . Upon arriving to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Benoit spent about a year training in their "New Japan Dojo" with the younger wrestlers to improve his abilities. While in
3933-995: A long-running feud with Jericho for the Intercontinental title, with the two meeting at Backlash on April 30, Judgment Day on May 21 and SummerSlam on August 27; Benoit winning all three matches. The feud finally culminated in Jericho defeating Benoit in a ladder match at the Royal Rumble on January 21, 2001. Benoit won the Intercontinental title three times between April 2000 and January 2001. In early 2001, Benoit broke away from The Radicalz (who had recently reformed three months earlier) and turned face, feuding first with his former stablemates and then with Kurt Angle, whom he wrestled and lost to at WrestleMania X-Seven on April 1. He gained some amount of revenge after beating Angle in an "Ultimate Submission" match at Backlash on April 29. The feud continued after Benoit stole Angle's cherished Olympic Gold Medal . This culminated in
4104-744: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
4275-513: A match at Judgment Day on May 20 where Angle won a two out of three falls match with the help of Edge and Christian . In response, Benoit teamed up with his former rival Jericho to defeat Edge and Christian in that night's Tag Team Turmoil match to become the number one contenders to the WWF Tag Team Championship . The next night on Raw Is War , Benoit and Jericho defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H to win
4446-662: A match eventually shown on 15 September 1984, on the Maple Leaf Garden broadcast. In 1985, Billington would end up teaming with Davey Boy Smith as the British Bulldogs , while Bret would turn heel and team with Jim Neidhart as The Hart Foundation , and it led to matches between the two teams that usually ended in No-Contests. On 7 April 1986, accompanied by Captain Lou Albano and Ozzy Osbourne ,
4617-471: A minute. Benoit later wrestled Booker T in friendly competitions, until Booker T and his wife, Sharmell , cheated Benoit out of the United States title on the October 21 episode of SmackDown! . On November 13, 2005, Eddie Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room. The following night, Raw held a Guerrero tribute show hosted by both Raw and SmackDown! wrestlers. Benoit was devastated at Guerrero's death and
4788-424: A more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise
4959-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
5130-484: A poll to see who would face Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship that night. Michaels received the most votes and as a result, Edge and Benoit were forced to team up to face the World Tag Team Champions, La Résistance, in the same night. However, Edge deserted Benoit during the match and Benoit was forced to take on both members of La Résistance by himself. He and Edge still managed to regain
5301-512: A result, Sullivan and Benoit had a contentious backstage relationship at best, and an undying hatred for each other at worst. Benoit did, however, admit having a certain amount of respect for Sullivan, saying on the DVD Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story that Sullivan never took undue liberties in the ring during their feud, even though he blamed Benoit for breaking up his marriage. This continued for over
Chris Benoit - Misplaced Pages Continue
5472-467: A sabbatical to heal nagging shoulder injuries. On October 8, Benoit made his return at No Mercy , defeating William Regal in a surprise match. Later that week, he won his fifth and final United States Championship from Mr. Kennedy . Benoit then engaged in a feud with Chavo and Vickie Guerrero . He wanted answers from the Guerreros for their rash behaviour towards Rey Mysterio , but was avoided by
5643-572: A second time to a woman named Dot; with her he had three stepsons; John, Steven and Mark. Dot passed away on 9 July 2024. Before his death Billington had two granddaughters, Miami and Taya. He is now survived by two more grandchildren, Madix and Harlow. Billington was a close friend of Wayne Hart . When Billington was living in Calgary, they co-owned an apartment together where they lived with their respective girlfriends. Billington had several violent interactions with fellow wrestlers. One such event
5814-598: A shirt saying "Toothless Aggression") and The Full Blooded Italians , teaming with Rhyno occasionally. In June 2003, the WCW United States Championship was reactivated and renamed the WWE United States Championship, and Benoit participated in the tournament for the title. He lost in the final match to Eddie Guerrero at Vengeance on July 27. The two feuded over the title for the next month, and Benoit went on to defeat
5985-531: A short time, before defeating Orton in a No Holds Barred match on the January 27 episode of SmackDown! via the Crippler Crossface. Benoit was given one last chance at the United States Championship at No Way Out on February 19 and won it by making Booker T submit to the Crippler Crossface, ending the feud. The next week on SmackDown! , Benoit ( kayfabe ) broke John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL)'s hand (JBL actually needed surgery to remove
6156-483: A storyline "open season" on wrestler contracts, with Benoit taking the Intercontinental Championship to SmackDown! . Van Dam defeated Benoit at SummerSlam on August 25 and returned the title to Raw . After returning to SmackDown! , he embarked on a feud with Kurt Angle in which he defeated him at Unforgiven on September 22. On October 20, 2002, at No Mercy , he teamed with Angle to win
6327-559: A stroke. In 2015, he was named in a lawsuit filed by WWE after the organization received a letter from him indicating that he intended to sue them for concussion-based injuries sustained during his affiliation with WWE. He was represented by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who is involved in several other lawsuits involving former WWE wrestlers. Billington's lawsuit was dismissed by US District Judge Vanessa Lynne Bryant in September 2018. Billington died on 5 December 2018, his 60th birthday . The exact cause of death remains unconfirmed, but
6498-503: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
6669-520: A vendetta against Benoit along with Lesnar, preventing him from gaining a shot at Lesnar's WWE Championship. When Benoit won a qualifying match for the 2004 Royal Rumble against the Full Blooded Italians in a handicap match with John Cena, Heyman named him as the number one entry. On January 25, 2004, he won the Royal Rumble by last eliminating Big Show, and thus earned a world title shot at WrestleMania XX on March 14. He became only
6840-586: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
7011-569: A winning effort in a tag-team match where Benoit partnered with Batista and MVP partnered with then- World Heavyweight Champion Edge . On the June 11 episode of Raw , Benoit was drafted from SmackDown! to ECW as part of the 2007 WWE draft after losing to ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley . In his debut on the ECW brand, Benoit teamed up with CM Punk in a tag team match against Elijah Burke and Marcus Cor Von , in which Benoit and Punk won. On
Chris Benoit - Misplaced Pages Continue
7182-574: A worker. Mick Foley reported that, when he and Les Thornton (another British wrestler) wrestled the Bulldogs in a tag-team match early in Foley's career, Billington manhandled him so badly in the ring that he tore a ligament in Foley's jaw with his signature Hook Clothesline, preventing Foley from eating solid food until his recovery. Outside of the ring, WWF-champion Randy Savage once specifically asked for him to watch his back when he went drinking in
7353-522: A working relationship, and because of their "talent exchange" program, Benoit signed with WCW in late 1995 along with a number of talent working in New Japan to be a part of the angle . Like the majority of those who came to WCW in the exchange, he started out in as a member of the cruiserweight division, having lengthy matches against many of his former rivals in Japan on almost every single broadcast. At
7524-563: A young Chris Benoit . In 1990, Davey Boy Smith abruptly withdrew the Bulldogs from AJPW's annual World's Strongest Tag Determination League by returning to the WWF, and fabricating a story to the All-Japan office that Billington was in a serious car accident and was unable to compete. Back home in the UK, from 1991 onward, he would regularly appear for local promotions All Star Wrestling and Orig Williams ' BWF where, due to his WWF success, he
7695-436: Is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which
7866-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
8037-542: Is considered by many, including Bret Hart , to have been one of wrestling's most influential in-ring performers, having increased the level of athleticism involved in the art, bringing together styles from Britain , Mexico , Canada and Japan . Billington was born on 5 December 1958 in Golborne , Lancashire . He had two sisters and a younger brother named Mark. His father Bill and uncle Eric Billington were boxers in their youth and his grandfather Thomas Billington
8208-708: Is featured in the 2016 documentary Nine Legends . The playable character "Dynamite Tommy" in the Mat Mania/Mania Challenge/Exciting Hour arcade games of the mid-1980s is often presumed to be modeled after Billington. The artwork for the game features the character wearing a championship belt which is quite similar to the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship which Billington held. Billington's nephews Thomas and Mark have become professional wrestlers, having been trained by Marty Jones and have formed
8379-427: Is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as a genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has
8550-470: Is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain a " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to
8721-489: The 2005 Draft Lottery and participated in an ECW-style revolution against the SmackDown! heels. Benoit appeared at ECW One Night Stand on June 12, defeating Eddie Guerrero. On July 24 at The Great American Bash , Benoit failed to win the WWE United States Championship from Orlando Jordan , but won a rematch at SummerSlam on August 21 in 25 seconds. Benoit then won three consecutive matches against Jordan in less than
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#17327870719988892-546: The BBC report of his death placed it in the context of the above-mentioned health issues. At the time of his death Billington’s siblings stated that his health issues resulted in him being depressed and that he took numerous medications for his health conditions. Billington's British training, combined with an aerial arsenal honed during numerous tours in Japan, influenced a generation of later wrestling stars, especially those normally associated with Stu Hart 's "Dungeon". A follower
9063-762: The Crippler Crossface , and a sharpshooter as finishers. He also used a diving headbutt to finish off opponents. The diving headbutt, which saw the deliverer leap off the top rope and land head first on the opponent, was partially blamed for the head trauma that caused Benoit to commit his crimes. Another of Benoit's trademark moves was three rolling German suplexes . This move would later be mimicked by multiple other wrestlers, including Brock Lesnar who uses it as Suplex City . Professional wrestling 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling )
9234-584: The Four Horsemen , as the three-man contingency held all three of the ECW championships at the time (Malenko also held the ECW World Television Championship at the time). The team lost the championship to The Public Enemy that April at Three Way Dance . Benoit spent some time in ECW feuding with The Steiner Brothers and rekindling the feud with 2 Cold Scorpio. He was forced to leave ECW after his work visa expired; Heyman
9405-872: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship , from Jushin Thunder Liger. He eventually lost the title in November 1990 (and in July 1991 in Japan and in November 1991 in Mexico, his mask ) back to Liger, forcing him to reinvent himself as Wild Pegasus. Benoit spent the next couple years in Japan, winning the Best of the Super Juniors tournament twice in 1993 and 1995 . He went on to win the inaugural Super J-Cup tournament in 1994, defeating Black Tiger, Gedo , and The Great Sasuke in
9576-572: The Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 21 on April 3. Edge won the match by knocking Benoit off of the ladder by smashing his arm with a chair. The feud finally culminated in a Last Man Standing match at Backlash on May 1, which Edge won with a brick shot to the back of Benoit's head. On June 9, Benoit was drafted to the SmackDown! brand after being the first man selected by SmackDown! in
9747-628: The NWA World Tag Team Championship tournament; they were defeated by Brian Pillman and Jushin Thunder Liger in the first round at Clash of the Champions XIX . He did not return to WCW until January 1993 at Clash of the Champions XXII , defeating Brad Armstrong . A month later, at SuperBrawl III , he lost to 2 Cold Scorpio , getting pinned with only three seconds left in the 20-minute time limit. At
9918-624: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
10089-614: The WCW United States Heavyweight Championship before bringing together Malenko, Perry Saturn, and Shane Douglas to form " the Revolution ". The Revolution was a heel stable of younger wrestlers who felt slighted (both kayfabe and legitimate) by WCW management, believing they never gave them the chance to be stars, pushing older, more established wrestlers instead, despite their then-current questionable worthiness of their pushes. This led to
10260-615: The WCW World Tag Team Championship . This led to a reformation of the Four Horsemen with the tag team champions, Anderson, and Steve "Mongo" McMichael . The two hunted after the tag team championship for several months, feuding with teams like Raven and Perry Saturn or Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. After a falling out with Anderson and McMichael, Benoit and Malenko left the Horsemen; he won
10431-557: The independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in the United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including
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#173278707199810602-787: The ring name the Dynamite Kid , was a British professional wrestler . Trained by former wrestler "Dr Death" Ted Betley, he competed in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Stampede Wrestling , All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). With his cousin Davey Boy Smith , he was also known for being one half of the tag team The British Bulldogs . He had notable feuds with Tiger Mask in Japan and Bret Hart in Canada . Billington
10773-431: The spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from the competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on
10944-531: The "Crippler" moniker for Benoit. From that point until his departure from ECW, he was known as "Crippler Benoit". When he returned to WCW in October 1995, WCW modified his ring name to "Canadian Crippler Chris Benoit". In The Rise and Fall of ECW book, Heyman commented that he planned on using Benoit as a dominant heel for quite some time, before putting the company's main title, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship , on him to be
11115-584: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
11286-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
11457-460: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
11628-653: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
11799-627: The British Bulldogs won the WWF World tag team title from Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake at WrestleMania II . Dynamite Kid would suffer a serious injury in a tag-team match that took place in December 1986 in Hamilton, Ontario , Canada, against Don Muraco and Bob Orton, Jr. and several wrestlers including Roddy Piper , Junkyard Dog and Billy Jack Haynes would substitute for him when tag title defenses were made. While recovering in
11970-527: The Bruisers defeated Johnny Ace and Sunny Beach at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. He returned to Japan as a special guest with Lord James Blears on 28 February 1993 and claimed that he was going to send his 17-year-old brother to All Japan's Dojo, but it was not realized. He returned again for a tag team match with Johnny Smith on 28 July 1993 and was planning to promote an All-Japan show in his country in 1994, but it
12141-616: The Bulldogs had earlier been eliminated when Billington had been pinned by Smash of the tag team champions Demolition . After leaving the WWF, the Bulldogs returned to Stampede Wrestling to win the International Tag Team Titles. The Bulldogs also competed frequently in All-Japan Pro Wrestling where they were paid $ 20,000 each by Giant Baba , along with the liberty of choosing which tours they wanted to participate in. Upon returning to Stampede,
12312-779: The Bulldogs were involved in a feud with Karachi Vice over the Stampede International Tag Team Championship . However, by February 1989, Dynamite became involved in a brutal feud with Johnny Smith after Johnny interfered and attacked the Dynamite Kid, before cutting his hair. In May 1989, the Bulldogs split up in Stampede, but remained a team in AJPW. Over in Stampede, the Bulldogs feuded with each other, with Dynamite forming The British Bruisers with Johnny Smith and Davey Boy Smith teaming with
12483-486: The ECW World Championship had he been present for the event. Professional wrestler and MMA fighter Bob Sapp , whom WWE had tried to sign up before a contract dispute with K-1 rendered it impossible, reported he would have been put into an oncoming angle with Benoit in case he would have been able to debut. Benoit included a wide array of submission holds in his move-set and used a crossface , dubbed
12654-534: The Horsemen team up with The Dungeon of Doom , but that alliance ended with Dungeon leader and WCW booker , Kevin Sullivan feuding with Pillman. When Pillman abruptly left the company for the WWF, Benoit was placed into his ongoing feud with Sullivan. This came to fruition through a dissension between the two in a tag team match with the two reluctantly teaming with each other against The Public Enemy , and Benoit being attacked by Sullivan at Slamboree . This led to
12825-421: The June 19 episode of ECW , Benoit wrestled his final match, defeating Elijah Burke in a match to determine who would compete for the vacated ECW World Championship at Vengeance on June 24. Since Lashley was drafted to Raw, he had vacated the title. Benoit missed the weekend house shows , telling WWE officials that his wife and son were vomiting blood due to food poisoning . When he failed to show up for
12996-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
13167-488: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
13338-428: The November 25 episode of SmackDown! , Theodore Long set up a "Best of Seven" series between the two. Booker T won three times in a row (at Survivor Series on November 27, the November 29 SmackDown! Special , and the December 9 episode of SmackDown! ), due largely to Sharmell's interference, and Benoit faced elimination in the series. Benoit won the fourth match to stay alive at Armageddon on December 18, but after
13509-471: The Revolution seceding from WCW, and forming their own nation, complete with a flag. This led to some friction being created between Benoit and leader, Douglas, who called into question Benoit's heart in the group, causing Benoit to quit the group, thus turning face, and having his own crusade against the top stars, winning the Television title one more time and the United States title from Jeff Jarrett in
13680-725: The Sports Legacy Institute (now the Concussion Legacy Foundation ) suggested that depression and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a condition of brain damage , from multiple concussions that Benoit had sustained throughout his pro-wrestling career were likely contributing factors of the crimes. Due to his murders, Benoit's legacy in the professional wrestling industry is heavily debated. Benoit has been renowned by many for his exceptional technical wrestling ability. Prominent combat sports journalist Dave Meltzer considers Benoit "one of
13851-550: The UK, was scouted and moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1978. He would make occasional home visits over the next few years, including challenging World Heavyweight Middleweight Champion Rollerball Rocco in a televised title match ending in a double knockout. Dynamite made a big impact in his matches for Stampede Wrestling with the increasingly popular Bruce Hart and rookie Bret Hart . Despite differences between them due to comments Dynamite Kid made about Stu Hart in his autobiography, Bret still regards him as "pound-for-pound,
14022-614: The WWE and the WCW Triple Crown Championships. He was also the 2004 Royal Rumble winner, joining Shawn Michaels and preceding Edge as one of the three men to win a Royal Rumble as the number one entrant. Benoit headlined multiple pay-per-views for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) including a victory in the World Heavyweight Championship main event triple threat match of WrestleMania XX in March 2004. In
14193-744: The WWF Tag Team Championship. On the May 24 episode of SmackDown! , Benoit suffered a legitimate neck injury in a four-way TLC match . Benoit challenged Austin for the WWF Championship on two occasions, first losing in a manner similar to the Montreal Screwjob in Calgary on the May 28 episode of Raw is War and then losing in a close match in Benoit's hometown of Edmonton on the May 31 episode of SmackDown! . Despite
14364-522: The WWF as a stable that became known as the Radicalz . After losing their "tryout matches" upon entry, The Radicalz aligned themselves with WWF Champion Triple H and became a heel faction . Benoit quickly won his first title in the WWF just over a month later at WrestleMania 2000 on April 2, pinning Chris Jericho in a triple threat match to win Kurt Angle 's Intercontinental Championship . It
14535-536: The World Heavyweight Championship against Kane. A month later at Vengeance on July 11, Benoit retained the title against Triple H. At SummerSlam on August 15, Benoit lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Randy Orton . Benoit then teamed with William Regal at Unforgiven on September 12 against Ric Flair and Batista in a winning effort. Benoit then feuded with Edge (who had turned into an arrogant and conceited heel), leading to Taboo Tuesday on October 19 where Benoit, Edge, and Shawn Michaels were all put into
14706-420: The World Heavyweight Championship, which both men lost. The feud stopped abruptly, as Edge feuded with Shawn Michaels, and Benoit entered the Royal Rumble as the second entrant on January 30, lasting longer than any competitor before being eliminated by Ric Flair. The two then continued to have matches in the following weeks until the two of them, Chris Jericho, Shelton Benjamin, Kane, and Christian were placed in
14877-547: The World Tag Team Championship, which saw a series of matches (including losing the titles to La Résistance on the May 31 episode of Raw ), while simultaneously having confrontations with Kane over the World Heavyweight Championship. Benoit wrestled in two matches at Bad Blood on June 13 in his respective rivalries; he and Edge failed to regain the World Tag Team Championship (winning by disqualification when Kane interfered) while he successfully defended
15048-426: The World Tag Team Championship. They lost the titles back to La Résistance on the November 1 episode of Raw . At Survivor Series on November 14, Benoit sided with Randy Orton's team while Edge teamed with Triple H's team, and while Edge was able to pin Benoit after a Pedigree from Triple H, Orton's team won. The Benoit-Edge feud ended at New Year's Revolution on January 9, 2005 in an Elimination Chamber match for
15219-757: The World's Strongest Tag Determination League, and the duo (known as the British Bruisers ) continued to compete in All Japan Pro Wrestling. The duo managed to capture the All Asia Tag Team Championship , but the partnership was short-lived; the years of steroid abuse (including an incident in which he used horse steroids), working a high impact style, and cocaine usage caught up with Billington as he suddenly announced his retirement on 6 December 1991, immediately after
15390-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
15561-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
15732-561: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
15903-414: The beginning, similarities between Benoit and Billington were apparent, as Benoit adopted many of his moves such as the diving headbutt and the snap suplex ; the homage was complete with his initial billing as "Dynamite" Chris Benoit. According to Benoit, in his first match, he attempted the diving headbutt before learning how to land correctly, and had the wind knocked out of him; he said he would never do
16074-653: The belts to Hennig and Scott McGhee . On 7 February 1984, Billington captured the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship by winning a tournament in New Japan Pro-Wrestling; although it was a WWF Title, it was primarily defended in Japan. He defeated Davey Boy Smith earlier in the tournament and would go on to defeat The Cobra in the finals. Dynamite Kid made his WWF television debut on 29 August 1984, where he and Bret Hart defeated Iron Mike Sharpe and Troy Alexander in
16245-400: The belts to The Hart Foundation. McMahon acquiesced and at a TV taping on 26 January 1987, The British Bulldogs wrestled a match to drop the titles to The Hart Foundation; the match would air on 7 February edition of WWF Superstars of Wrestling . The match itself was an odd sight, as Dynamite could barely walk due to back surgery. Dynamite was knocked out by Jimmy Hart's megaphone early in
16416-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
16587-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
16758-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
16929-461: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
17100-638: The course of a year with Sullivan having his enforcers apprehend Benoit in a multitude of matches. This culminated in a retirement match at the Bash at the Beach , where Benoit defeated Sullivan; this was used to explain Sullivan going to a behind-the-scenes role, where he could focus on his initial job of booking. In 1998, Benoit had a long feud with Booker T . They fought over the WCW World Television Championship until Booker lost
17271-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
17442-623: The dojo, he spent months doing strenuous activities like push-ups and floor sweeping before stepping into the ring. He made his Japanese debut in 1986 under his real name. In 1989, he started wearing a mask and assuming the name The Pegasus Kid. Benoit said numerous times that he originally hated the mask, but it eventually became a part of him. While with NJPW, he came into his own as a performer in critically acclaimed matches with luminaries like Jushin Thunder Liger , Shinjiro Otani , Black Tiger , and El Samurai in their junior heavyweight division. In August 1990, he won his first major championship,
17613-459: The end of 1995, Benoit went back to Japan as a part of the "talent exchange" to wrestle as a representative for New Japan in the Super J-Cup: 2nd Stage , defeating Lionheart in the quarterfinals (he received a bye to the quarterfinals for his work in 1995, similar to the way he advanced in the 1994 edition) and losing to Gedo in the semifinals. After impressing higher-ups with his work, he
17784-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
17955-603: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
18126-503: The finals. He wrestled outside New Japan occasionally to compete in Mexico and Europe, where he won a few regional championships, including the UWA Light Heavyweight Championship . He held that title for over a year, having many forty-plus minute matches with Villano III . Benoit first came to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in June 1992, teaming up with fellow Canadian wrestler Biff Wellington for
18297-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
18468-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
18639-460: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
18810-769: The greatest wrestler who ever lived." Dynamite Kid began taking steroids in 1979, when Big Daddy Ritter, aka the Junkyard Dog , introduced Billington to the anabolic steroid Dianabol . Billington was also introduced to speed during his stay in Canada by Jake Roberts . After doing big business in Canada, Dynamite was booked on his first tour of Japan, working for International Wrestling Enterprise from 19 to 25 July 1979. Stu Hart and Stampede Wrestling switched their business relationship from IWE to New Japan Pro-Wrestling shortly after Dynamite's first tour, and he wrestled for New Japan from 4 January 1980 to 2 August 1984. Perhaps
18981-444: The hospital from back surgery, Billington would later recount that Bret Hart showed up and stated that Vince McMahon had sent him to get Dynamite's tag belt; Billington refused. Shortly after checking himself out of the hospital (against doctors' orders), Billington met with McMahon, who requested that the Bulldogs drop the tag titles to the team of The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff ; Billington refused, saying that he would only drop
19152-473: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
19323-480: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
19494-496: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
19665-463: The injured list. However, when he returned, he did so as a member of the Raw roster. On his first night back, he turned heel again and aligned himself with Eddie Guerrero, and he feuded with Stone Cold Steve Austin briefly. Benoit defeated Rob Van Dam on the July 29, 2002, edition of Raw to become Intercontinental Champion for the fourth and final time. He and Guerrero were then moved to SmackDown! during
19836-414: The intention that he take a face-first "pancake" bump , but Sabu attempted to turn mid-air and take a backdrop bump instead. He did not achieve full rotation and landed almost directly on his neck. After this match Benoit returned to the locker room and broke down over the possibility that he might have paralysed someone. Paul Heyman , the head booker of ECW at the time, came up with the idea of continuing
20007-416: The issuance of complimentary plane tickets, over which he resigned from the company on principle and which to his surprise in retrospect, Smith followed suit. The Bulldogs wrestled their last WWF match at the 1988 Survivor Series . Although their team would win the match after team captains The Powers of Pain ( The Barbarian and The Warlord ) eliminated the last remaining opponents The Conquistadores ,
20178-541: The likes of A-Train at No Mercy on October 19, Big Show, and eliminating Brock Lesnar by submission at Survivor Series on November 16 as part of a Survivor Series elimination tag team match between Team Angle against Team Lesnar. As a result, Benoit challenged Lesnar for the WWE Championship on the December 4 episode of SmackDown! , but lost after passing out to Lesnar's debuting Brock Lock submission hold . SmackDown! General Manager Paul Heyman had
20349-662: The long-term champion of the company. Benoit and Dean Malenko won the ECW World Tag Team Championship – Benoit's first American title – from Sabu and The Tazmaniac in February 1995 at Return of the Funker . After winning, they were initiated into the Triple Threat stable , led by ECW World Heavyweight Champion, Shane Douglas , as Douglas's attempt to recreate
20520-488: 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
20691-414: The match, Booker T suffered a legitimate groin injury, and Randy Orton was chosen as a stand-in. Benoit defeated Orton twice by disqualification on the December 30 and January 6, 2006, episodes of SmackDown! . However, in the seventh and final match, Orton defeated Benoit with the help of Booker T, Sharmell, and Orlando Jordan, and Booker T captured the United States Championship. Benoit feuded with Orton for
20862-403: The match, avoiding him having to wrestle much in the match for story purposes. From that point forward, the Bulldogs would not be a top-tier team anymore, and while they would not become straight jobbers , they would mostly wrestle to double disqualifications, double countouts or time-limit draws against the top teams in the WWF. Billington was known for being a tough guy and for his stiffness as
21033-582: The match, he received a standing ovation for his efforts. Benoit returned to the tag team ranks, teaming with the returning Rhyno . At WrestleMania XIX on March 30, the WWE Tag Team Champions, Team Angle ( Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin ), put their titles on the line against Benoit and his partner Rhyno and Los Guerreros in a triple threat tag team match. Team Angle retained when Benjamin pinned Chavo . In April 2003, following WrestleMania, Benoit then feuded with John Cena (wearing
21204-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
21375-418: The most memorable matches that came out of Dynamite's run in New Japan were from his now legendary feud against Tiger Mask ; Tiger Mask's debut was against Dynamite, in which Tiger Mask shocked the wrestling world by gaining the victory over Dynamite. The two would compete against one another several more times in a feud that is often credited as putting Junior Heavyweight wrestling on the map, as well as setting
21546-721: The move again at that point. His debut match was a tag team match on November 22, 1985, in Calgary, Alberta , where he teamed with "The Remarkable" Rick Patterson against Butch Moffat and Mike Hammer, which Benoit's team won the match after Benoit pinned Moffat with a sunset flip . The first title Benoit ever won was the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship on March 18, 1988, against Gama Singh . During his tenure in Stampede, he won four International Tag Team and three more British Commonwealth titles, and had
21717-421: The neck injury, he continued to wrestle until the King of the Ring on June 24, where he was pinned by Austin in a triple threat match for the WWF Championship also involving Jericho. Benoit missed the next year due to his neck injury, missing the entire Invasion storyline . During the first WWF draft , he was the third wrestler picked by Vince McMahon to be part of the new SmackDown! roster, although still on
21888-449: The opening round on the May 5 episode of SmackDown! , after Finlay struck Benoit's neck with a chair and delivered a Celtic Cross. At Judgment Day on May 21, Benoit gained some revenge by defeating Finlay with the Crippler Crossface in a grudge match. On the following episode of SmackDown! , Mark Henry brutalized Benoit during their match, giving him (kayfabe) back and rib injuries and causing him to bleed from his mouth. Benoit then took
22059-492: The pay-per-view, viewers were informed that he was unable to compete due to a "family emergency" and he was replaced in the title match by Johnny Nitro , who won the match and became ECW World Champion. The crowd spent the majority of the match chanting for Benoit. It would be revealed in the following days that Benoit had murdered his wife Nancy and son Daniel before committing suicide . WWE executive Stephanie McMahon later indicated that Benoit would have defeated CM Punk for
22230-486: The pin. While at the airport to return home on the next day, Dynamite had a second seizure (the first one was in 1987) and was sent to the hospital immediately. In 1991, he was divorced from his first wife Michelle Smadu (the sister of Bret Hart 's then-wife Julie ), with whom Billington had one son and two daughters (Marek, Bronwyne and Amaris). Following the end of his marriage to Michelle, he moved from Canada back home to Golborne with his parents. There he married for
22401-437: The platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of the venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as
22572-717: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
22743-575: The referee what happened, getting himself disqualified. Booker refused that victory, instead opting for an eighth match at the Great American Bash to see who would fight Finlay later that night. Booker won the final match and went on to beat Finlay for the title. This feud significantly elevated both men's careers as singles competitors, and both remained at the top of the midcard afterward. In 1999, Benoit teamed with Dean Malenko once again and defeated Curt Hennig and Barry Windham to win
22914-582: The same time, he formed a tag team with Bobby Eaton . After he and Eaton lost to Scorpio and Marcus Bagwell at Slamboree , Benoit headed back to Japan. After WCW, Benoit worked in Australia , and CMLL in Mexico . In early 1994, he worked for NWA New Jersey where he defeated Jerry Lawler . A month later he fought Terry Funk to a double count out. In August 1994, Benoit began working with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in between tours of Japan. He
23085-570: The second WWE performer to win the Royal Rumble as the number one entrant along with Shawn Michaels. With Benoit being on the SmackDown! brand at the time, it was assumed that he was going to compete for his brand's championship, the WWE Championship. However, Benoit exploited a "loophole" in the rules and moved to the Raw brand the following night to announce he would instead challenge World Heavyweight Champion Triple H at WrestleMania. Though
23256-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
23427-419: The standard for future generations. Both the NWA and WWF Junior Heavyweight titles were vacated after Tiger Mask was injured by Dynamite Kid in a tag match on 1 April 1983. Dynamite and Kuniaki Kobayashi competed for the vacant titles, but no winner was decided. On 21 April 1983, Dynamite and Tiger Mask met for the vacant WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship , but no winner was decided after the match ended up as
23598-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
23769-455: The title at WrestleMania 23 on April 1, where Benoit retained. Their rivalry continued with Benoit defeating MVP again at Backlash on April 29. At Judgment Day on May 20, however, MVP gained the upper hand and defeated Benoit to win the title in a two out of three falls match, thus ending the feud. Benoit would wrestle MVP one last time on the June 2 episode Saturday Night's Main Event , in
23940-473: The title to Fit Finlay . Booker won a "Best-of-Seven" series which was held between the two to determine a number one contender. Benoit went up 3 to 1 before Booker caught up, forcing the 7th and final match on Monday Nitro . During the match, Bret Hart interjected himself, interfering on behalf of Benoit in an attempt to get him to join the New World Order . Benoit refused to win that way and told
24111-567: The top 10, maybe even [in] the top five, all-time greats" in professional wrestling history. Benoit was inducted into the Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2003. His WON induction was put to a re-vote in 2008 to determine if Benoit should remain a member of their Hall of Fame. The threshold percentage of votes required to remove Benoit
24282-569: The top ring rope. However, Dennison was so impressed by the technical skill of his young opponent that he refused the win and consequently changed his ways and became a blue-eye and a friend of Kid. During his early days, he won the British Lightweight title on 23 April 1977, and the Welterweight title on 25 January 1978. He was also instrumental in starting the career of then-Judo star Chris Adams while still competing in
24453-519: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
24624-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
24795-433: The two and was eventually assaulted. This led to the two embarking on a feud with title matches at Survivor Series on November 26 and Armageddon on December 17; Benoit won both matches. The feud culminated with one last title match as a No disqualification match , which was also won by Benoit. Later, Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP), who claimed that he was the best man to hold the United States title, challenged Benoit for
24966-427: The two having violent confrontations at pay-per-views , which led to Sullivan booking a feud in which Benoit was having an affair with Sullivan's real-life wife and onscreen valet , Nancy (also known as Woman). Benoit and Nancy were forced to spend time together to make the affair look real, (hold hands in public, share hotel rooms, etc.). This onscreen relationship developed into a real-life affair offscreen. As
25137-603: The two performers "stood out above everyone else". Benoit trained to become a professional wrestler in the Hart family " Dungeon ", receiving education from family patriarch Stu Hart . In-ring, Benoit emulated both Billington and Bret Hart, cultivating a high-risk style and physical appearance more reminiscent of the former (years later, he adopted Hart's own " Sharpshooter " hold as a finishing move). Benoit began his career in 1985, in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion . From
25308-545: The use of his left leg. Using a wheelchair for mobility, he was cared for by his second wife, Dot. Billington was told he would never be able to walk again. Harley Race , the inventor of the diving headbutt (a move Chris Benoit also used frequently), stated that he regretted ever inventing the move due to its ostensible causation of spinal problems, concussions, and that it may have contributed to Billington's disability. In addition to his paralysis, Billington also had heart problems. In November 2013, Billington reportedly had
25479-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
25650-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
25821-476: Was Chris Benoit , who idolized Billington while growing up and adopted a similar moveset that included the swandive headbutt and the Snap suplex . In February 2013, Highspots.com released a documentary named Dynamite Kid: A Matter of Pride on the Dynamite Kid. In October 2014, Billington was presented with a lifetime achievement award at Gloucester Leisure Centre by Superstars of Wrestling UK. Billington
25992-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
26163-577: Was a bare-knuckle boxer . He was a member of the Billington family. One of his ancestors James Billington was also a wrestler. Academic work was not a priority to him, but he was drawn to sports at his comprehensive school ; his adherence to it, particularly wrestling and gymnastics, helped him develop a relatively small but powerful and agile shape. In addition, he had also received training in boxing during his formative years, which helped instill toughness in him before his career. Billington
26334-420: Was a headline attraction this time around. Since Davey Boy Smith had trademarked the term "The British Bulldog" during the Bulldogs' previous run in WWF, he decided to return to the WWF as The British Bulldog and would send people to the United Kingdom to warn the promoter every time a flyer was distributed promoting Dynamite Kid as a "British Bulldog". Johnny Smith would end up taking Davey Boy Smith's spot in
26505-399: Was a two-time world champion , Benoit having reigned as a one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion and a one-time World Heavyweight Champion in WWE; he was booked to win a third world championship at a WWE event on the night of his death . Benoit was the twelfth WWE Triple Crown Champion and the seventh WCW Triple Crown Champion , and the second of four men in history to achieve both
26676-515: Was also in this time period that Benoit wrestled in his first WWF pay-per-view main events, challenging The Rock for the WWF Championship at Fully Loaded on July 23 and as part of a fatal four-way title match at Unforgiven on September 24. On both occasions Benoit appeared to have won the title, only to have the decision reversed by then-WWF commissioner Mick Foley due to cheating on Benoit's part. Benoit simultaneously entered into
26847-479: Was approached by Ric Flair and the WCW booking staff to become a member of the reformed Four Horsemen in 1995, alongside Flair, Arn Anderson , and Brian Pillman ; he was introduced by Pillman as a gruff, no-nonsense heel similar to his ECW persona, "The Crippler". He was brought in to add a new dynamic for Anderson and Flair's tormenting of Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage in their "Alliance to End Hulkamania", which saw
27018-449: Was booked as a dominant wrestler there, gaining notoriety as the "Crippler" after he put Rocco Rock out. In his first appearance, Benoit competed in a one-night eight-man tournament for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Championship , losing to 2 Cold Scorpio in the quarter-finals match. At November to Remember , Benoit accidentally broke Sabu 's neck within the opening seconds of the match. The injury came when Benoit threw Sabu with
27189-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
27360-485: Was held at Backlash on April 18 in Benoit's hometown of Edmonton. It was Michaels who ended up submitting to Benoit's Sharpshooter, allowing Benoit to retain his title. The next night in Calgary on the April 19 episode of Raw , he and Edge won the World Tag Team Championship from Batista and Ric Flair , making Benoit a double champion. Following his victories, Benoit and Edge engaged in a rivalry with La Résistance for
27531-496: Was made to try to keep him with WCW, by putting the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship on him by defeating Sid Vicious at Souled Out . However, due to disagreements with management and to protest the promotion of Kevin Sullivan to head booker, Benoit left WCW the next day alongside his friends Eddie Guerrero , Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn, forfeiting his title in the process. WCW then refused to acknowledge Benoit's victory as an official title reign, and Benoit's title reign
27702-483: Was not listed in the title lineage at WCW.com. However, the WWF recognized Benoit's title win, and Benoit's title reign is still listed in the title lineage at WWE.com. Benoit spent the next few weeks in Japan before heading to the WWF, who acknowledged his WCW World Heavyweight Championship win and presented him as a former world champion. Benoit joined the World Wrestling Federation near the end of its Attitude Era . Along with Guerrero, Saturn and Malenko, he debuted in
27873-584: Was not met. Benoit was born in Montreal, Quebec , the son of Michael and Margaret Benoit. He grew up in Edmonton, Alberta , from where he was billed throughout the bulk of his career. He had a sister who lived near Edmonton. During his childhood and early adolescence in Edmonton, Benoit idolized Tom "Dynamite Kid" Billington and Bret Hart ; at twelve years old, he attended a local wrestling event at which
28044-570: Was not realized either. In January 1994, he returned to England and worked again for All Star Wrestling . Before embarking on another All-Japan tour, he visited Dan Spivey and stayed in his home in Florida for a week, while Spivey went on holiday. When Spivey came back, he and Billington took hits of LSD , which resulted in Billington coming close to death twice in one day, but he was revived with adrenaline shots by paramedics both times. His final wrestling match took place on 10 October 1996, at
28215-571: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
28386-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
28557-469: Was supposed to renew it, but he failed to make it on time, so Benoit left ECW in August 1995 as a matter of job security and the ability to enter the United States. He toured Japan until WCW called. In June 1995, while under contract with ECW, Benoit worked in three dark matches losing to Bob Holly , Adam Bomb and Owen Hart . New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) had
28728-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
28899-663: Was trained by former wrestler "Dr. Death" Ted Betley after a meeting at his father’s workplace introduced the two. He trained with Betley for three years starting at 13, and attended Riley's Gym , known as The Snake Pit, where he learned freestyle wrestling. Dynamite Kid made his debut working in 1975 for Max Crabtree . Kid's first match filmed for TV was taped 30 June 1976 in Lincoln (and transmitted 30 October by which time another match against Pete Meredith had been filmed and screened) saw him lose by technical knockout to veteran heel "Strongman" Alan Dennison after injuring his throat on
29070-433: Was very emotional during a series of video testimonials, eventually breaking down on camera. The same week on SmackDown! (taped on the same night as Raw ), Benoit defeated Triple H in a tribute match to Guerrero. Following the contest, Benoit, Triple H, and Dean Malenko all assembled in the ring and pointed to the sky in salute of Guerrero. After controversy surrounding a United States Championship match against Booker T on
29241-461: Was with Bruce Hart , in which Billington broke Hart's jaw. Another was while in WWF, where wrestler Jacques Rougeau Jr. felt that Billington had bullied him and punched Billington in the face with a fist holding rolled up quarters, knocking out Billington's front teeth. In 1997, after having a great deal of complications he was experiencing with walking due to the large number of back and leg injuries he sustained during his career, Billington lost
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