Loss Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 Vote for the wrestler that you think had the better career in WWE (whether you base that on impact or match quality is your decision), from 1985 to 2005. Voting will end tomorrow morning at the latest. Please give the wrestler's name first and any explanation thereafter. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hunter's Torn Quad Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 The Rock Used infinitely better than Benoit, which is a shame, as I think Benoit being handled as well as The Rock was could have seen Benoit walk this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 Chris Benoit For being a workhorse and a much better wrestler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alfdogg Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 The Rock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest treble Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 Rock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 Benoit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teke184 Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 The Rock Benoit's the better in-ring worker but Rock has better promos, drew more money, and has had better career longevity because he's rarely, if ever, injured too much to wrestle. (Rock's only major injury is probably his torn shoulder circa mid-1997, which helped lead to him turning heel) If Benoit hadn't lost a year due to his neck and had been booked better as champion in 2004, it would be closer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mac Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 The Rock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rob Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 The Rock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 The Rock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Man in Blak Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 The Rock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyOwnSummer Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 Benoit. It's incredibly close for me but I'm more entertained by wrestleing than sports entertainment so Benoit gets the edge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Some Guy Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 Rock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 The Rock I voted Eddy Guerrero over The Rock previously and I stick with that vote. However, now I choose The Rock over Chris Benoit, because when I voted for Eddy, I voted him because the uphill battles he faced have been bigger than what the Rock has faced and what Benoit's faced. I almost voted Benoit, because for a guy who was never marketed strongly by the company, he's done fairly well for himself. (Remember when, in 2000, there was one T-shirt for Benoit, in a company known for its marketing priorities?) However, unlike Eddy, Benoit hasn't had as good of matches, nor ability to draw money. Maybe Benoit would have that opportunity if the company really gave it to him, but Eddy's been able to do this without anyone's help. Anyways, I'm REALLY getting off the subject matter here... Rock's better on the mic, is great at working the crowd and, unbelievably enough, his best match in the company is better than Benoit's best match. Benoit's also faced a decline in the company, possibly more severe than any of the ones that have come from WCW. While, ring-wise, it doesn't take nearly as much ability to work a typical Rock match, if he came back tomorrow, he may not miss a beat, judging from his other returns. I'll go with Rock here, slightly, because of that, plus he's had a greater impact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted May 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 The Rock I would proudly support Benoit here if he wouldn't have fallen so hard after returning from his neck injury in 2002. He just hasn't been the same since. Since coming back, let's take a look at Benoit and see if he's been the best in his company at any point. 2002 I'm not a Kurt Angle fan but I would venture to say that Angle outworked him that year, carrying Edge to a fairly good series and also getting a decent match out of Big Show at Armageddon. When pressed, Benoit couldn't do the same with Show during that time period, had his best match against Angle (which wasn't that good), couldn't have a good match with Eddy that December and I think the No Mercy tag is horribly overrated. All of my favorite Smackdown Six matches don't involve him at all. If you look at others in the company, he was probably on par with Rey Misterio Jr overall, who was still adjusting to the style and hadn't become great again yet. I think Jericho was better in '02, especially for carrying Hulk Hogan to his best matches in ages and getting Kane's best career match out of him, along with carrying HHH in the WM main event *and* at HIAC, and getting a better match out of Van Dam at KOTR than Benoit got out of him at Summerslam. 2003 He was probably the best on Smackdown, and he had a good match with Angle in January that saw him hit the highest point he has since returning. I'm not a huge fan of that match, but it is mostly a good match. The match with Eddy Guerrero at Vengeance is not one I'm particularly fond of -- in fact, I think he had better TV matches with A-Train. Love the Brock Lesnar match on Smackdown in December, and Eddy didn't really return to top form until 2004, and with Angle falling hard and Lesnar inconsistent, Benoit *was* the best on SD, but he was the best by default. I think Jericho outworked him in 2003, specifically with his carry jobs of Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash and Bill Goldberg, along with my pick for company MOTY against Shawn Michaels, where if you pay attention to the match, Jericho is basically leading him by the hand all the way through it. He also had a better tag team with Christian than Benoit had with Rhyno, and both of those guys are probably comparable as workers. 2004 Eddy Guerrero and Rey Misterio Jr were both far better in the ring in 2004, and I would argue that even Chavo's best > Benoit's best in 2004. Eddy's title reign was far better than Benoit's, though it was a bit shorter, and he had far less to work with. When Eddy has a better match with JBL than Benoit has with Shawn Michaels, I think it's obvious that Benoit has slipped. 2005 So far, Eddy looks to be having the better year, and also seems to be doing much more with the opportunity he has. 2000 and 2001 there's no competition. Benoit was head and shoulders above everyone on the roster, although Austin peaked in the 6-8 months before Benoit was sidelined, and that was competitive. The reason I'm even writing all of this is because I believe so strongly in Benoit's place in WWE history. His arrival did so much to improve the quality of wrestling in the company in 2000 and 2001, as for a spell there, you could pretty much guarantee that everyone would have their best career match against Benoit. I think he made Rock better because Rock really wasn't considered a good worker until he started wrestling Benoit, which he started doing before the Ironman with HHH that has been praised. I think he was the only guy who could work with Jericho without Jericho having to dumb down his game considerably, with the possible exception of HHH. His match with Matt Hardy on RAW is when people started thinking that maybe he was the one carrying Jeff and not the other way around. He forced people to reevaluate the talent level of everyone in the company, and while Angle is overrated, I don't know that he'd even be good if not working with Austin and Benoit so much. Benoit gave Austin the match he needed to seem like he was back in top form in Nov of 2000 on RAW, with Austin doing more *wrestling* than he had in a match in years. I give Rock the edge, however, because his impact has been enormous, and once he developed into one of the top heavyweights in the company, he was consistent at that level. 2000 really saw him blossom as a performer, and 2001 saw him become in my eyes a great worker, considering that I think he was in two of the top three matches of '01 -- one with Austin and one with Chris Jericho. He was a major star even before that, and he's never had a period where he's regressed as noticably and obviously as Benoit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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