Like many people, I get a kick out of lists. Among them, I’ve typically enjoyed a lot of the lists produced in video format, by the WWE’s YouTube channel, and I appreciate the general transparency, and willingness to stop taking wrestling fans as idiots and pretend like alternate wrestling options don’t exist, by showcasing guys that aren’t with the company any more, or those who have left this world in passing.
Except for one man, whom yes, did truly horrific and terrible things, and the world is a better place without him in it. But like I’ve said numerous times about the topic, such things can easily be said about the man himself, but as a wrestling performer, I will still say he is one of my all-time favorites, and someone whose body of work as a performer I can still admire and appreciate, separate from the human being he was when not performing as a wrestler.
This man is obviously Chris Benoit, who murdered his wife and son before taking his own life. But make no mistake, the wrestler Chris Benoit was a tremendous competitor and had a laundry list of A+ matches throughout his career. Twice a World champion, with numerous secondary and tag titles won in his career, Benoit was a technical wizard in the ring and could really go in any style at an excellent level, be it submission, technical, strong style, or just plain brawling entertainingly.
However, due to the fact that he ended up being a murderer, the WWE has gone to great lengths to distance themselves from the existence of Chris Benoit, and understandably so. At first, they basically tried to minimize the presence of Benoit on the history of the industry, by mentioning him in the absolute bare minimum, when it came to past show summaries and title histories. Then they made every possible effort to avoid using video clips that might have Chris Benoit in them, and although I don’t have the WWE Network, I’m going to guess that they’ve carefully edited, if not re-dubbed over old shows, to make sure Benoit doesn’t show up at all, if they can help it.
I get why the WWE puts as much effort into trying to hide the existence of Chris Benoit, but at the same time, I’m also of the belief that forgetting the past, condemns one to repeating it. I’m not saying I’m foretelling of a future wrestler who will go bonkers and kill people, but I am going to say that trying to scrub someone out of history outright, is only going to make people those who remember them, remember them. And maybe brog about them.
Recently, I watched this one list, entitled “5 WWE Superstars you won’t believe tapped out.”
It’s obvious the WWE is capitalizing fully on the fact that Kurt Angle has recently retired, and since he’s no longer under the banner of TNA Wrestling, the WWE feels no concern at “showcasing a competitor” in busting out all sorts of Kurt Angle clips, since he pretty much did make everyone tap out at some point, from not just John Cena, but guys like Hulk Hogan and Kane, who probably tapped out a combined number of times that could be counted on one hand.
But there were two things that I took objection to when watching this video, because I simply thought they were flat out wrong:
Kurt Angle being the first guy to make Brock Lesnar tap – I will admit, I’m the party that’s wrong in this one, because I got my dates mixed up, and had Chris Benoit making Lesnar tap out in Survivor Series 2003 coming before any time Angle made Lesnar tap. However, it turns out that Angle did in fact make Lesnar tap out at Summerslam that same year, in the midst of their 60-Minute Iron Man match.
John Cena being the first man to end a Wrestlemania World title match with a submission, on Triple H at Wrestlemania XXII – now this is flat out wrong. The video uses careful phrasing to try and make themselves right, but given the fact that titles have merged and are in a state of being an undisputed champion, it still makes them wrong. The correct answer is unfortunately for the WWE, Chris Benoit, who made Triple H tap for the Big Gold Belt at Wrestlemania XX (see gif). To this day, it was one of my favorite Wrestlemania finishes, and I still have vivid memories screaming at a television at my friend’s house for Triple H to tap, only to go bonkers when he finally did.
I get that the WWE YouTube channel is in the never-ending game of needing to churn out content. I get that they’re capitalizing on the retirement of Kurt Angle to go on a spree of posting clips in the can that have Kurt Angle in them. I get that they want to give some love to John Cena, but doing so by straight up fabricating a false truth isn’t the way to go. I know that they don’t want to, or want anyone else to remember Chris Benoit, but straight up lying about his existence and accomplishments isn’t the best way to go about things, because smartasses like me will want to expose the truth, and draw attention that only six people will read towards it.
But let it be known that this video was probably best not being posted, because it contains false information. Chris Benoit tapping Triple H at Wrestlemania XX, was the first time that a World Title match ended at Wrestlemania via submission, and that shit sits in the history books, no matter what Benoit did after that.
