Chris Benoit - The FSM Interview

In 2007, I interviewed former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit for the much-missed FSM magazine. While I’ve written about the Benoit tragedy before, some people have enquired about the interview itself. So here it is, published free and without further comment.

You know, Kevin Nash might have had a point. Okay, so Chris Benoit isn’t a “vanilla midget” but at 5’9’’, he’s not the most imposing of figures. And after a few minutes in his company, you can see how someone could mistake his soft-spoken politeness for a shortfall of flamboyance.

Not that these apparent handicaps have prevented this proud son of Edmonton, Alberta, from rising to the very top of the professional wrestling world. Today, the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion arrives in the bar of the Conrad Hotel, Chelsea, with the United States belt on one arm and his charming wife - and wrestling legend in her own right - Nancy on the other.

One palm-crushing handshake later and it’s down to business. And while he’s clearly keen to present his employer in a positive light, Chris Benoit pulls as few punches in interviews as he does in the ring…

You’re here in Britain in a promotional capacity. Is professional wrestling still a hard sell?
Well, it’s not when you’re talking to genuine fans, but it can be difficult when you’re dealing with people who’ve only a passing interest in what we do. The problem is, a lot of people have stereotyped the industry and those stereotypes are based on the 1980s. Well, wrestling’s evolved a lot since then. So when I’m talking to the casual fan, I’m trying to convince them to tune in because the WWE of 2007 is a very different animal to the organisation of the Hogan era.

You’ve wrestled in front of the biggest of all wrestling audiences. How do you prepare to wrestle in front of 70,000 people?
The thing is, it really doesn’t matter whether I’m wrestling in front of 70,000 people or 70 people, my job is the same - I have to emotionally draw them in to what I am doing. I love what I do. I love every single second of it, so it really doesn’t matter to me how big the crowd is; I just relish the opportunity to engage with an audience. You really can’t underestimate the exhilaration that comes from being in the ring. It’s just like a drug, which is why so many of the guys find it hard to call it a day. Why would you want to give up something like that?

Given that you’re so passionate about the business, your final years with WCW must have been particularly hard to take?
That was a real wake-up call. No matter where you work, there’s always going to be politics. You can work at McDonald’s and politics will come into play. But at WCW,
it got to the point where I stopped enjoying wrestling. And when you start loathing something that you’re passionate about, something is seriously wrong. At the time I left, I hadn’t talked to Vince McMahon - I had no idea what I was going to do. But I knew in my heart that I couldn’t continue to make that sacrifice, it just wasn’t worth it.

Did you have any cross words with Kevin Nash or Eric Bischoff when they subsequently joined WWE?
No, we didn’t. In fact, when I left WCW, Eric had been given a leave of absence, so I was negotiating with Bill Busch. But while I’ve done a fair bit of business with Eric, that issue’s never come up. Although, to be fair, things never got that sour between the two of us when I was at WCW. But I certainly had words with Bill Busch!

When they offered to put the world title on you in WCW, did that make you pause at all to reconsider your decision to leave?
Not for a second! As you know, I actually asked them not to put it on me because I didn’t want the opportunity. I told them straight up that I wasn’t happy and I wanted to leave. There was a lot of talk about how they considered me a big part of the company’s future, but I stood my ground. That they had Sid slide his foot under the ropes [in order to do a ‘Dusty Finish’ and reverse the title win] suggests they thought there was a good chance I wasn’t going to have a run with the title.

All of that said, you looked rightly delighted at the end of Souled Out.
Which is amazing given that I was the most miserable I’ve ever been. But, you know, people had paid good money to watch, either live or on pay-per-view, and I owed it to them to give them the best show possible.

Since the fans are clearly important to you, does it hurt when they’re critical of a performance?
Not really. The reality is, I’m giving it my all every time I’m in the ring, but there are times when you have to wrestle hurt, and when you then hear, ‘Hey, Chris looks pretty slow today,’ that’s a shame. But the simple fact is, the fans make us or break us. And if you pay your money, you’re entitled to your opinion.

Thanks to Fit Finlay and William Regal, there's renewed interest in British wrestling’s World Of Sport era at the moment. When you were with Stampede Wrestling, didn’t you train with one of that period’s most talented performers, Frank ‘Chic’ Cullen?
Yes, I did. In fact, I learned a helluva lot from Frank Cullen. He and the other British guys of that time - Dynamite Kid, Mark Rocco, Marty Jones - they were all well ahead of the game. I loved all those guys, Frank especially.

You mention Mark Rocco. You wrestled the Eddie Guerrero-era Black Tiger in Japan - did you ever have the chance to wrestle the original ‘Rollerball’ incarnation?
No, I didn’t, but when I first trained in Japan, Rocco came over and I often found myself at ringside studying his matches. Us young boys back then, we’d sit there drinking it all in. It was a real privilege to watch him - it’s just a shame I was never able to work with him. But I can’t stress how far ahead of his time, Mark Rocco was. I’m talking light years. You can watch any of his matches today and they still feel fresh. The same goes for Marty Jones. I try to get all the young guys at Deep South and Ohio Valley Wrestling to watch Marty at work. Really, I preach to them, get your hands on Marty Jones matches, because he’s doing things that are a lost art.

You got your break in Japan from Bad News Allen, who recently passed away. You must have fond memories of him.
All my memories of Allen are fond. He was one of the first guys to take me under his wing, and I was awed by that because I was just Chris Benoit, an 18-year-old kid from Alberta. I was nobody and he took the time to help me. I’ll always be grateful to Allen for how he helped me in my career. He was a good friend - so good that, when he set up my first trip to Japan, he didn’t disguise the fact that I’d find it hard. Some people might have downplayed that but not a real friend. Allen was a stand-up guy and the most generous of men.

As a fan of British wrestling, it must be a thrill to see Dave Finlay back at the top of his game.
It’s incredible. I mean, he’s still ahead of his time. No one can touch him in terms of his ability and what he brings to the ring. It would be great for every young wrestler to spend time with either Fit Finlay or Marty Jones - they’d show those young guys how it’s done.

Okay then, bottom line: who’s the best technical wrestler working today?
Dave Finlay - hands down. William Regal is a pretty close second, and I’ve a lot of time for Bryan Danielson. And although I don’t watch a lot of the TNA product, I’ve a lot of respect for Samoa Joa. Would I like to wrestle him? Sure - he’s one of those guys I could fight a thousand times and we’d never have the same match. And, of course, there’s Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles. I’d love to see AJ come to the WWE, just to give him the chance to be seen by the widest available audience. I’m a big, big AJ fan. But, come the crunch, Dave’s The Man.

Is there anyone out there that you’d really like to work with?
I’d love to work a singles feud with The Undertaker - I haven’t had that opportunity yet. Out of everyone in my career that I’ve looked up to, he’s the one guy I haven’t wrestled. But then, when I joined WWE, the one guy I really wanted to work with was Shawn Michaels, and he was retired at the time. Then a few years pass and I’m standing opposite him at WrestleMania in the main event with the title on the line.
So you never know what the future might hold!

What’s Taker’s appeal?
It’s the fact we’ve never had a program. All the years that he’s dedicated to the business, you just can’t help but admire him. To work with him would be a great privilege.

And what about the younger generation of WWE wrestlers coming up?
Ken Kennedy’s great. I really enjoy watching him. He has bags of charisma and a ton of passion. I believe that he’ll become one of the major players in the game in the next few years.

Kennedy certainly did a good job of lending credibility to his feud with the Undertaker?
That stems from his passion for the business. What a lot of people don’t know about Kennedy is that he came through the OVW development system, but prior to that he was working independents while also holding down a full-time job. And he had a great job - he was working at a nuclear power plant making really great money, so he didn’t need wrestling to make him a rich man. But such was his passion for wrestling, he thought nothing of driving 15 hours to earn $30, or driving eight hours only to get screwed out of his payoff and end up with a beer and a hotdog. But he loves what he does and look where that passion’s got him. But how many guys have got that sort of love for the business?

Do you think wrestlers have it easier these days? It seems now that, if you’re a young guy at OVW with the right look, you’ve got a golden ticket to the big leagues.
It’s always been like that. Maybe it’s on a different scale now, but it’s really always been the case. When I was training at The Dungeon with Stu Hart, there was a guy called Tom McGee, who was a strongman - he competed in the World’s Strongest Man competition. And Stu loved him, because he was 6’6’, he had a great physique and he had unbelievable strength. And because Stu liked him so much, he’d let things slide a little bit and give him a bit more leeway. Stu thought if he did that, things might pan out for him but they never did. And in the end he had to release him because he just didn’t have it in him. So the idea of green guys with great looks getting ahead in the business has always been the case and it will continue to be so in the future. But the business weeds itself out and the cream rises to the top - in the long run.

Speaking of looks, what do you make of the new-look ECW? Do you see good things in its future?
I do. I think Bobby Lashley’s made a big difference - he’s had some great matches even though he’s still developing. A lot of people talk about how it’s not the way it used to be but that was then and today is today. Now it’s an extension of WWE so it’s bound to be different. But it’s giving new guys opportunities. I mean, look at Elijah Burke - he’s impressed me so much and he wouldn’t have had the chance to shine if ECW didn’t exist. Same goes for CM Punk - the company can’t help but take notice of him because of the way he’s got over with the fans. If more guys get the chance and take it, it can only be a good thing for business. So the fans who knock the new ECW are only really cheating themselves.

If nothing else, it’s another hour of wrestling on television each week.
And if you’re a fan, that can’t be a bad thing, can it? In truth, it’s just a small group of hardcore fans who’re complaining that it’s not like the original ECW. But as WWE has evolved, so has ECW. As I said earlier, look at the WWE of 10 or 15 years ago and it’s a completely different animal.

WWE has a Four Horsemen DVD in the offing. What can you tell us about your involvement in that?
I’ve done a couple of interviews for it. It was a true honour to be involved in the DVD just as it was a great honour to be a Horsemen. Just to hang out with Ric Flair and Arn Anderson as a young guy working his first big job in the US, to be on their coattails,
it was humbling.

Why do you think that the Horsemen were never pushed quite the way they could and should have been?
Kevin Sullivan, that was the issue. Before I left the WCW, 21 of us got together and agreed that we were going to go to Bill Busch to ask for our releases unless they pulled Kevin Sullivan and Mike Graham from power. Then, by the time it came to take real action, there were just 12 of us. The first one to put his hand up was Perry Saturn who said, ‘I want my release.’ And then I followed suit and so did the rest of the guys in the room. But by the time it came to the meeting proper, there were just five of us - me, Perry, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Shane Douglas. Of course, Shane couldn’t go as he had history with the WWE and he’d got so far behind on payments with ECW that he really needed his WCW paycheque, but there was no animosity about his having to stand down. But that whole incident amazed me because you talk about strength in numbers, and you can see what happened once our numbers were cut -
our strength evaporated and the status quo remained unaltered.

Of course, Kevin Sullivan stood in for - and was later replaced by - Vince Russo, who’s currently nursing the book for TNA. Does your experience with him suggest that’s not the best for business?
[Genuinely appalled] Oh man! Look, I don’t watch a lot of TNA but from my experience with Vince, I didn’t think he’s the right person to be in that position.
He might have some creative role to play but dictating the direction of a wrestling company? No way!

And with that, the Benoits head off in the direction of a local fish and chip restaurant (“William Regal always insists that the boys have fish and chips when they come to the UK,” he explains). And as Chris and Nancy walk away hand-in-hand, you can see that Kevin Nash had it wrong. Or rather, he should have remembered that vanilla has long been the world’s most popular flavour of ice cream. And while he might be a little on the short side, it’s the 5’9’’ Chris Benoit, rather than the 7’ Vinnie Vegas who’s now the true wrestling giant. Like the man said, the cream really does rise to the top and, in the WWE of 2007, Chris Benoit is the crème de la crème.