Chris Benoit

[8.0] "First things first, Chris Benoit is a murderer. That's always going to be his legacy and nothing will change that. With that said, judging him strictly as a wrestler, while he was undoubtedly one of the most gifted between the ropes, as a great, agile, technical talent, man was he awkward to watch when having to do any character work. Unfortunately, that just feels trivial to talk about that kind of stuff."

[10.0] "Chris Benoit was one of the most complete wrestlers ever to step into a ring, a performer whose intensity and commitment to physical storytelling were unmatched in his era, and while the final days of his life inevitably casts a heavy shadow on him, this rating focuses strictly on his in-ring legacy and contributions to the craft. I am giving this rating after seeing creators on YouTube talk about how he was a horrible person who shouldn't be mentioned anymore, and hearing statements like that makes me sick. I just don't believe that he was a bad person. I don't want to sound like I am defending a murderer; I agree that he did something unforgivable, but we all know why it even happened. I BLAME FOR THAT EVERYONE WHO SAW WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO CHRIS -- THAT HE WAS LOSING HIS MEMORY AND DEALING WITH OTHER ISSUES -- AND DID NOTHING. VINCE DIDN'T INTERVENE. NO ONE HELPED HIM. AND THAT LED TO THE HORRIBLE EVENT FOR WHICH ONLY HE IS RESPONSIBLE. FUCK THOSE WHO KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG AND DID NOTHING. And because of that one incident, the overall direction and approach of wrestling changed. He paid the price for being willing to take anything in the ring and outside of the ring. Other than that, Benoit was just a badass, had a great physique, was an exceptional seller, and had this weird charisma that made him exceptional. Whenever I get the chance to watch one of his great matches, I will never refuse, and I will watch them for his wrestling artistry without thinking about what he did the last days of his life. On the other hand, there are people like Joey Ryan, David Starr, and Tessa Blanchard, who are truly awful human beings, and I will never watch their matches. I understand that many people will be disgusted by my stance, and I get that, but I remember him as an amazing wrestler who did great work in NJPW, ECW, WCW, and WWE. That is why I am giving the highest rating."

[10.0] "Chris Benoit was arguably one of the greatest wrestlers in history, & arguably one of the best Canadian performers of all time. His move-set was iconic & he has had several legendary matches throughout his entire career. With Eddie Guerrero, Steve Austin, 2 Cold Scorpio, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, The Rock, & most notably, Kurt Angle! His flying headbutt is one of the best finishing moves in wrestling history & probably the most impressive. Benoit's physique was also INCREDIBLE as he was only 5'9. WrestleMania 20, Royal Rumble 2003, WCW Souled Out 2000, WCW Collision in Korea 1995, Bad Blood 2004, No Mercy 2000, Royal Rumble 2001, WrestleMania X-Seven, & several more other events in which Chris Benoit outperformed the rest & delivered either the match of the night, or match of the year. He is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time & I love each of his tenors as Wild Pegasus in NJPW & the CRIPPLER in ECW, WCW, & the WWF."

[10.0] "By far one of the best workers of the Ruthless Aggression Era, ever. His promos were ace, his moveset was ace, & he could make anybody shine. He was so fucking good that he was able to transcend Vince McMahon's love for big men & become a household name in an era where size was paramount, despite being relatively small in stature. Mental health emergencies are miserable experiences, & I often wonder what this world would look like with Chris still in it. This was a heinous tragedy, & I hope nothing of this sort will ever happen again. He truly was the best."

[6.0] "Amazing, amazing, amazing in between the ropes. Fantastic wrestler in the ring in every manner. Absolute 10/10. Terrible, terrible, terrible at every other facet of pro wrestling. No character work. No charisma. No skills on the microphone. Absolute 0/0."

[10.0] "As far as mat technicians and actual great wrestlers are concerned, Chris Benoit ranks among the best. What he did in the last few days of his life, killing his wife, son and then himself, is still beyond comprehension. That being said, I can separate the artist from the art so to speak. I choose to remember Chris Benoit the great wrestler, rather than the man that did what he did on that fateful weekend from June 22-24, 2007"

[10.0] "Disregarding what he was as a human being, he was truly amazing. Technicality and speed was all there. He could not put a single foot wrong the minute he stepped onto the mat and he deserved a lot more than he had in the Fed. Long live Benoit, the wrestler."

"Easily the best wrestler of all time. He never politicked his way to success either. Most wrestlers acknowledge him as the best they ever faced. And the ones that don't, no longer do it because of the way he left this earth."

"Chris Benoit the performer is still one of my absolute favorites even twenty years removed from having first seen him. I could watch his matches all day. In that regard he is a perfect ten. Chris Benoit the man murdered his wife and child and chose to end his own life rather than face the consequences thereof. He had every option to ask for help, turn back or, failing all that, seek a measure of atonement. In that regard he is a zero. As it would feel unfair to rate him at either of these two extremes and giving him a five simply feels like a cop out, I do not think it is possible for me to rate him on a numerical scale. I will simply say that he changed my life twice: the first time by making me a fan of professional wrestling, the second time by teaching the lesson that life is far too precious to throw away on something as absurd as it."

[1.0] "Before Anyone Gets Me At this: Chris Benoit Is The Greatest Wrestler Of All Time. He Had Great Matches, and his level of intensity and technical perfection remain unmatched in the history of the business. My rating of 1/10 is solely for the performer, the athlete, and the body of work he created inside the squared circle from his days in Stampede Wrestling and Japan, through ECW, WCW, and his run in WWE. But The The -9 Rating Is For The Controversy Of CTE, His Wife And Son, And Himself. He Has earned A 5-Star Match Not As The Man he Was, But As The Pegasus Kid Or Wild Pegasus IN NJPW. I Didn't like How Benoit Slowly Self-Destructing Himself In The 2000's, But Still My Favorite Wrestler, But Not The Favorite Person."

[10.0] "We should probably just focus on the actual wrestling of a wrestler without letting real-life situations influence our wrestling ratings. That's why I'm giving Chris Benoit a 10. He was one of the best in the world during his prime. His feud with Jushin Thunder Liger in Japan was one of the best feuds in wrestling ever."

[10.0] "Well, in the ring he was one of the best technicians who ever lived. That's a fact. He murdered his wife and son from what has been determined by medical professionals to be brain damage. That's a fact. If you want to brandish your version of high morality and clutch your pearls, that's your prerogative but it makes the person doing it sound like a sanctimonious windbag."

[0.0] ""I could not give two shits how good of a wrestler Chris Benoit was because he took the lives of his wife and son. He robbed the world of two beautiful souls and for that he can rot in hell. No amount of great wrestling will ever be enough to compensate for two human lives and the fact that so many people are willing to overlook this is absolutely baffling to me. As much as I love pro wrestling I will never allow my love of wrestling to rise above my human decency to forgive this monster for what he did. I don't care how heavily his brain was affected by the steroids he still made the decision to take the lives of two people who did not have a choice. We should never value wrestling over human lives and the fact that people defend this man who is now widely known to have been a terrible person backstage towards other talent is absolutely sickening.""

[10.0] "I'll leave it at this, among the top 5 greatest I've ever seen in the ring. That's all I can say, he was 4 real."

"I find it stupid that people rate him a 0 for what he did as a person not a wrestler we are here to talk about the wrestling they do not the people they are outside of the ring"

[0.0] "Child murderer. Wife killer. Do you need to add literally anything else on top of that? He strangled a 7 year old to death, his own son. He murdered his wife, Nancy, who's contributions to wrestling are now erased because they've been overshadowed by her murder. Killed himself like a coward after doing that so he wouldn't have to face justice for it. That is the legacy of Chris Benoit, the child murderer. I know other people don't have a problem with that, and they will excuse all of that because it's a guy they watched on their TV screens growing up, but I personally can't watch a guy that strangled a 7 year old to death perform fictional wrestling."

[9.0] "Strictly as a pro wrestler, Benoit was incredible to watch. I remember as a kid, I loved the ultimate submission match with Angle so much that I would watch it and then mimic the match move for move with my action figures. Now I haven't watched a Benoit match in 18 years."

[9.0] "a proper rating for benoit is a... touchy subject to say the least. On one hand, he was an undoubtedly phenomenal performer. He had a great career in WWE, WCW, New Japan, and he's been responsible for some 5 star matches and iconic moments. On the other hand... The way both his life and wrestling career ended was both tragic and horrifying. years of head trauma leading to a pyschotic break and the murder of his wife and son. Benoit is many things to todays wrestlers. A blueprint for greatness. a cautionary tale. I try my best to separate the art from the artist, and while Benoit is not my favorite wrestler, I think he's great."

[10.0] "Who is better than him? He is the best as an in ring competitor he had a great ring skill and good mic skill God bless you"

"Shit ahh human being bros burning in hell lol you should never ever know peace you absolute clown shit class act"

[0.0] "Chris Benoit murdered Nancy & Daniel Benoit. It doesn't matter how good of a suplex he had, he took two innocent lives from us, and deserves to only be recognised for that. If you want to argue that CTE was the reason he murdered his wife & child, then you also have to ignore his history of domestic violence and years of well documented backstage bullying. Yes, Chris Benoit was an excellent professional wrestler, but OJ Simpson was an excellent running back, and we as a society (rightly) ignore that because of what he did. Chris Benoit was a murderer, and should only ever be remembered as such."

"I'm not gonna leave a numerical rating on this; but I will give a few words. Chris Benoit was my favorite wrestler of his time period- I loved the diving headbutt, I loved the suplexes- I REALLY loved his devil-may-care approach to the wanton violence he visited in the ring. I think I would be hard pressed to find a better mat technician at this time, barring maybe some up-and-coming indie guys that would become household names after his passing. None of these things excuse his actions even in the slightest- the person that would do what he did is clouded by a darkness I cannot fathom, nor wish to. I was incredibly saddened to learn about the details of the end of his life, along with his wife and child's. It is not my place at all to forgive him for those things, nor do I really feel it is fair to dismiss his work because of these horrid actions. I think his life and passing present an important reminder to fans that what is happening in the ring is still damaging, even if put on for our entertainment. This man, in some sense, gave his mind away for our entertainment, and to watch his matches back now is bittersweet remembering this. I hope to god that my other favorites over the years do not suffer the way he did from losing his mind; and I lament that it took such a tragedy to lead to healthier conversations about the incredible dangers of head injuries in pro wrestling. May his loved ones rest in peace, and may he serve as a reminder to cherish our loved ones more. If I were to give a rating solely on his ring and promo work, he would sit very highly in a roster of the greatest of his generation. If I were to consider his actions outside of the ring, he would not be given any praise whatsoever. I refuse to take up the task of rating him numerically for this exact reason."

[7.0] "Wow, Chris Benoit, someone difficult to classify. Honestly, I'm not a big fan, but not for what you might think. I'm not a big fan regardless of what he did in real life. I'm not a big fan based on the limited footage I've seen of him (although I have seen several good things, such as his victory at WM 20, his celebration with Eddie at the same event). Due to all the censorship against his name, it's been difficult to find Benoit footage casually. I've always thought he had above-average technique, but nothing incredible or out of this world. All I see are several faster-than-average moves and nice technical moves. His mic skill wasn't especially good, but he did have what it took to foster a feud. It's worth noting (again) that I'm giving my opinion based on what he did in the ring, not what happened at his home in 2007. In short: a good wrestler who has a special aura; he was always special."

"I don't feel comfortable providing a rating for Benoit as it will inevitably ignore either the horrific actions he commited or the exceptional in-ring work he performed. Providing a numerical rating, to me, doesn't allow an approach with as much nuance as the man himself requires. As a person, the actions he committed at the end of his life were reprehensible, and no-one should ever attempt to ignore or downplay them. Neither grief, CTE, nor steroid use makes a man a murderer. In the ring, however, Benoit was a foundational piece of the highly technical, grappling-focused work of the mid to late nineties WCW undercard that allowed him to work excellently with talent such as Hart, Malenko, and Guerrero, and that work carried him to success in early 2000s WWE, with great work in the mid card alongside the rest of the Smackdown six, especially Angle, and Jericho, all of which culminated in a phenomenal Royal Rumble performance and one of, if not the, best Wrestlemania main events from an in-ring perspective. I cannot comment on his work in Japan as I am unfamiliar with it, but this man was near untouchable when it came to in-ring prowess. Shame about what happened in the end though."

[10.0] "The ham and eggers can rant about the Benoit tragedy all they want, but this review will ignore all their rhetorical emoting. Chris Benoit was one of the best in ring performers of his generation. He had the excellence of execution of Bret Hart. And I don't draw that comparison because they are both Canadian, I draw it because they both had no holes in their game to poke through. No, Chris Benoit wasn't the Rock or Steve Austin kn the mic, but few are, so it doesn't matter. He got his point across, and did the rest of the talking in the ring. He embodied everything I loved about pro wrestling. His matches with Kurt Angle are some of the absolute best matches of the 21st century. In an age of super work rate, indie riffic, spot monkey garbage, skilled mat and chain wrestling needs to be preserved and brought back to the forefront. Any young aspiring wrestler would be doing themselves a disservice by ignoring the in ring legacy of Chris Benoit. Don't like my take? Too bad. There's nothing you humanoids can do about it."

[10.0] "Chris Benoit was one of the very best to do it. I recognized back in 1992 when he teamed with Beef Wellington in the NWA World Tag Team Championship tournament that he was going to be a huge star and he was. Won the '04 Rumble and main evented and won WrestleMania XX. He elevated so many wrestlers during his time. With that said, it is a tragedy what happened to him and his family. CTE is a deadly thing and Chris was a victim of it. The only sad thing is that no one can be diagnosed with CTE until after their death. CTE messes with their thought process, causes them to hallucinate, hear voices, and who knows who else. Yes, what Chris did was the worse thing a man could do. That is undisputable. But Chris also wasn't in the right frame of mind when it happened either. Nancy and Daniel were victims of Chris but Chris was a victim of CTE."

[0.0] "The fact that this guy still has such a high rating is honestly disgusting. This man is a murderer, who was so juiced up with steroids that he murdered his wife , his child, and himself. The excuses of him having CTE does not rectify what he did. Yes CTE is a big deal. No the CTE didn't make the decision to pull the trigger. Yes his CTE, overuse of steroids and whichever substances he was on at the time and his seemingly urge to be the main character in every single thing in his life got him in a state where he wanted to end his own life. If he did just take his own life, although I will never support the decision or concept as I feel it's not a solution, if he just ended his own life one could have argued CTE was probably the main reason. But no. He decided to take the life of his innocent wife and child aswell before taking the cowards way out and ending his own life. There is no excuse that justifies that, no reason that justifies that , murder is murder. Chris Benoit is a monster, a coward, and a MURDERER. End of discussion."

"Chris Benoit is someone who's nearly impossible for me to rate. In professional wrestling, triumph and tragedy often walk hand in hand--woven into the fabric of its history. From the cursed legacy of the Von Erich family to WCW's fleeting dominance over WWE before its collapse, the business is filled with stories of glory cut short. But few tales are as disturbing--or as complex--as that of Chris Benoit. Since the events of June 2007, just the mention of Benoit's name has sparked intense and justified debate. It's impossible to discuss his career without acknowledging the horror that unfolded in Fayetteville, Georgia that June 2007 weekend. In the ring, Benoit was one of the most technically gifted performers the business had ever seen. He was strong, intense, fierce, and capable of telling gripping stories purely through physicality. While he was never strong on the mic, he captivated audiences with a relentless in-ring style that felt almost surgical, mechanical, even in it's precision. At times, that same relentlessness overshadowed the storytelling in his matches. He could be so focused on forward motion, like a buzzsaw or a wolverine, that he left little space for opponents to sell, to breathe, to absorb the moment. Still, he was a student of the game and arguably surpassed even the Dynamite Kid, whose style he mirrored. But the cost of that commitment, the physical and mental toll was staggering. In a 2004 interview, Benoit said, "Life doesn't push you into the depths of darkness. You do." A sobering and somewhat ironic quote, made more haunting by what would follow. And yet, in a business with no off-season, no union, inconsistent healthcare, and little institutional support for the talent at the time, how does one avoid the darkness? Unlike the NFL or NBA, professional wrestling exists in a regulatory vacuum. It's a world where, especially at that time, talent was expected to perform through pain, and where pills and sketchy doctors often replace rest and rehabilitation. The line between personal responsibility and systemic exploitation becomes impossibly blurred. The industry has long been shielded from mainstream scrutiny, often seen as too carny, too niche, too self-contained. But the blame too often lands squarely on the performers, while the structures that grind them down remain untouched. Chris Benoit's story is the most tragic expression of that broken system. Whether his actions were fueled by CTE, unchecked drug use, mental illness, or a combination of factors, they were monstrous, heinous and downright vile. The lives of Nancy and Daniel Benoit must never be reduced to footnotes in a debate about his legacy. And yet, there's a deeper conversation here--one the industry must face. Benoit was obsessed with proving he belonged, in an environment that once deemed him too small or too bland to be successful. That obsession drove him to the pinnacle of wrestling... and, ultimately, to destroy everything he ever loved. His legacy is not just one of brilliance and brutality, it's a cautionary tale. One that forces us to ask: how many more will we lose before real change happens? Wrestling fans must stop treating these tragedies as isolated incidents. Tribute videos, ten-bell salutes, and memorial patches aren't enough. We need an industry that prioritizes the long-term health of its talent over its own outdated traditions. Chris Benoit was without a doubt a casualty of that system, especially as evidenced by the changes the system made after his death in 2007. That truth doesn't excuse or justify what he did. But if we fail to learn from his story, the industry will remain just as dangerous and just as complicit as it was here."

[8.0] "I'm ranking him an 8 strictly because of his wrestling ability. When he said that he was the best technical wrestler of all time, he really meant it. No, I do not condone, nor do I defend what he did, but there's no denying that Benoit as a wrestler was one of the greatest in-ring performers of all time."

[8.0] "Strictly from an in-ring perspective, Benoit was one of the most technically sound and intense performers of his time. His matches in Japan, WCW, and WWE showcased elite wrestling ability, crisp execution, and unmatched passion for the craft. While his legacy is understandably complicated due to tragic events, his contributions to wrestling technique and storytelling in the ring are undeniable."

[9.0] "How Chris Benoit ended his life was tragic and heartbreaking. Based SIMPLY on his body of work over his career, he was one of the best. Intense, fast, willing to put his body in harms way. He really understood the science of putting a match together and how to build the crowd up over the course of a 10-25 minute match. His Wrestlemania XX main event culminating in the World Heavyweight Championship is one of the greatest title chases in WWE history. Unfortunately, he will never be honored in the Hall of Fame or remembered for his accomplishments by WWE due to his actions in 2007. Sadly, the coroner said he would've been dead by the end of 2007 anyway from an enlarged heart. The CTE also did not help at all. MVP noted how during his and Chris feud, Benoit would blackout and forget spots during their matches. Heartbreaking, he truly was a once in a kind talent. He was regarded as a good friend and father by many of his peers, which explains how everyone in the business was caught off guard by what happened. If you want to see some of the best pro wrestling matches of all time, watch any of his bouts with Kurt Angle. Both in their prime, you just have to see it with your own eyes."

[9.0] "As far as I am concerned this is a site where we talk about wrestling and nothing but wrestling. So, Chris Benoit, THE wrestler was in my opinion one of the best ever. Technical, strong, with abnormal resilience he enters my top 10 of all time. He lacked charisma on the mic, but let his 5-star matches do the talking."

[8.0] "As much as I hate what he did back in 2007, I must have to admit he's a pretty good wrestler. Such a shame that he did the things he did, because he would've been HOF worthy if none of this ever happened. As a wrestler, it's a 8. As a human being, it's a 0"

[0.0] "Perplexed at the amount of fans that think real life is a storyline and there's some crazy conspiracy. Look, in-ring talent is a 10. I cried when I found out he passed. He, Jericho, Eddie, Rey and others were the reason we tuned into ECW / WCW. His run from bottom of the WWF card to WWE Heavyweight Champion should have been a movie. He should have had a lot of great moments and feuds left in him. They were working towards a feud with him and CM Punk which could have been legendary. His match with Eddie at Vengeance is one of the best ever. With that said, his actions are inexcusable and ruin his reputation and legacy forever. Every sports league & hall of fame has a character rating, and he fails his miserably. What he did outweighs whatever we think about his in-ring talent or his matches."

[10.0] "The only topic of contention here is whether or not you can separate the art, from the artist. I happen to think you can. As despicable as his actions were, as much as I hate him for what he did, as much as he should be forgotten and rot in hell, he's a wrestling legend, and a 10."

[10.0] "NOTE: My ratings of these wrestlers are only based on what they did in the ring and not what they did behind the scenes, not gonna get into you-know-what, but please know I'm not endorsing his actions and know I'm not overlooking his crimes, I'm rating Chris Benoit the wrestler, not the person. Okay, got it? Now that I got that out of the way, let's continue. Chris Benoit is in a completely different league of his own in the ring, you could make the argument that he's the absolute best wrestler of all time. He has always been a joy to watch whether he was in WCW, ECW, NJPW, or WWE, he has always showcased his best in the ring. Having great matches with the likes of Eddie Guerrero, The Great Sasuke, Kurt Angle, Bret Hart, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Brock Lesnar, Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, Fit Finlay, MVP, Steve Austin, and many more to name. The man was very dedicated to his craft, working at every show he was booked on, even if it required for him to wrestle 5-7 days a week, always giving the paying audience their money's worth. Chris Benoit was a true ring general, could go 30-60 minutes with anyone, could call it on the fly and work around even the worst of opponents. He threw some of the best suplexes of all time, the crippler crossface is one of the best submission moves of all time, everything he did looked fantastic. Overall, while a complicated legacy, he was among the best wrestlers to ever step foot in the ring and gave you his all no matter what."

[10.0] "We're here to judge the wrestlers, not the human beings. I despise Benoit with all of my efforts, he's a criminal, I don't care about any excuse you can throw at me, it was an horrendous act and WWE was right when the decision to cancel him was made. But God, the wrestler was incredible, probably the greatest technician who ever lived until that years. He used to put all of his efforts when he was called to have a great match, it's not a case that he had a lot of incredible matches with everyone all around the world. Although the wrestler deserves even more than 10, the person would deserve -infinite"

[0.0] "A murderer, wife-killing, child-killing murderer, nobody should even talk about this man. I don't why every wrestling youtuber, interviewer, or journalist still waste their breath on this guy. Was an OK wrestler, every great match of his don't even matter anymore. And what's all this retcon from fans that he was one of the greatest, is it BECAUSE of what he did? Watching the average ratings on this site in 2007 is 9.11? The YEAR he committed those horrible crimes! If he was still alive and didn't do horrible crimes people here would rate him a 5-6. WWE should scrub this child-killer face from every known video of him like they do the WWF logo. Make him disappear forever. One of the few Québécois like me to make It in WWE and this is his legacy. Burn in hell Chris Benoit."

"Stone Cold summed up exactly how i would have said it about Chris Benoit, as a wrestler... loved him, obviously what he did is unforgettable. o course he gets a 0, yeah i like some of his work but he KILLED his wife and kid. Not to mention he was mentally fucked from the beginning and would have most likely died before 2013. Also i heard he cheated on his wife with another wrestler. The day he commited those crimes was the day wrestling changed for ever, amazing wrestler but that doesnt stop him from getting a 0, Fuck this guy as a Human being."

[7.0] "Ugh....this will not be an easy one to rate, but here we go. Chris Benoit was one of the greatest in-ring-performers of all time. He was intense, crisp, hard-hitting and could make you believe he really wanted to maim the guy he was facing, and he could have a good match with just about anybody, though he...wasn't the best in terms of safe execution (which.... will become relevant later), and I don't know if this is a hot take or not, but the diving headbutt is a really dumb move; it looks like it would hurt you more then your opponent most of the time. On the mic, he wasn't amazing, but he wasn't horrible, just enough to get the point across, and his charisma was mostly from how intense he was in the ring. I'd give him another point or two if it wasn't for what he did to Daniel and Nancy. While I usually don't like rating wrestlers for what they did outside the ring, Chris nearly killed the entire industry with what he did, and if you're allowed to rate Invader #1 a complete zero for what he did, then I'm allowed to drop a point for what Chris did. Rot in piss."

[9.0] "Benoit was an incredible wrestler. I'll admit to not being a huge fan of his mic work, but he was one of the best in the ring. Even in the WCW where he was criminally underused, he produced entertaining matches constantly. Sadly, a real example of the dangers of CTE and the risks a lot of professional athletes take every week."

"I don't think Benoit should be ratable on this website. As for my own opinion, one of the greatest to ever do it in the ring, maybe lacking personality outside of it. I can personally watch most of his matches up until within a couple months of the murder-suicide, but I totally understand people being unable to do so. Again, I think Benoit should be excluded from the rating system."

[10.0] "hris Benoit stood out for his intensity, precision, diverse moveset, and exceptional in-ring psychology, all while being one of the most technically sound wrestlers of his time. Few could match his skill and passion, but that dedication came at a price. Wrestling consumed his life, and over the years, he endured severe injuries, especially to his head, while also abusing steroids which along with CTE took a devastating toll on his health which pushed him toward an inevitable decline. Unfortunately, his reckless lifestyle didn't just destroy him, but it also led to the tragic deaths of two innocent people. In my opinion it's a tragedy that could have been prevented had he played safer in the ring and steered away from roids."

[10.0] "First I'm going to acknowledge the elephant in the room... Chris Benoit is an unforgivable femicide and infanticide. But I'd like to talk about his career for a moment (which is what this site was designed for). No one can deny that Benoit was perfection in the ring, many accuse him of having bad promos... but in ECW and WCW this was not so pronounced, I think his problems were with the memorized promos that WWE is used to. There is no Benoit match that I don't like (including his last two matches in WWECW, how nice to be able to say that Benoit and Monty Brown managed to work together once). One of the saddest "what ifs" in life and as a fan the tragedy of the Benoit family still hurts. A wrestling wound that will never heal..."

[0.0] "Chris Benoit was undeniably one of the most gifted technical wrestlers of his time. His intensity, precision, and mastery of in-ring psychology made him stand out in an era filled with larger-than-life characters. He could have a great match with almost anyone, seamlessly blending stiff strikes, crisp suplexes, and relentless submissions into a brutally realistic style. His matches against Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, and Shawn Michaels are still regarded as some of the best pure wrestling bouts ever. He was the epitome of a "wrestler's wrestler"--respected for his work ethic, dedication, and ability to tell a story in the ring without relying on flashy gimmicks or over-the-top promos.But none of that matters anymore.Everything he built, every match he crafted, and every accolade he earned were destroyed by his final actions. No amount of technical skill, five-star performances, or locker room respect can wash away the horror of what he did. He wasn't just another tragic case of a wrestler gone too soon--he was the cause of a tragedy that took the lives of two innocent people. His legacy isn't WrestleMania 20. It isn't his Royal Rumble win. It's the unforgivable crime that erased everything else."

[9.0] "This is entirely in a professional capacity. After Eddie and this, I gave up following rasslin' for over a decade and haven't followed regular WWE ever since. Futile denying that Benoit was anything less than a phenomenal performer capable of carrying any opponent and having a bad match about once a year. A prototype blend of technical skill, tenacity and power, his almost unique ferocity, safe to say, can be attributed to him being roided up to the eyebrows. Finale of WM 20's still a beautiful moment, made more poignant by the fact that within 3 years, both incredible talents were history."

"[10.0] I hate the man and the love wrestler. In my opinion, he is the greatest in-ring performer of all time. Nobody will ever forget the tragedy that he caused, but everyone will remember the intensity he brought in that ring. He might as well be the sole reason the phrase "you must separate the art from the artist" exists. Rest in Peace Nancy and Daniel, and god be with you David and Meghan."

[10.0] "Intense. One of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time. I do not condone what he did outside of the ring - but he's arguably among the best in-ring workers in the history of professional wrestling along with Kurt, Bret, Shawn and so on."

[10.0] "Lethal grappler and unmatched intensity. He's got some fun matches in his catalogue, and they can be enjoyable if you try your best to forget about-- ya' know."

[10.0] "He was too important to my young wrestling fandom to give him anything less than a 10. He was my guy. He did an awful, horrific thing, an unforgiveable thing. But Chris Benoit was really the first guy that made me believe in this thing that has given me so much joy and emotion and passion in my life, so...it has to be a 10. Probably the reason I have such a fucked up relationship with my fandom of wrestling, and probably doesn't make me a good person to rate him so highly, but so be it. Peace be with Nancy and her family."