With less than one month until Wrestlemania XXVII, Greatest Videos Eeeever will spend the next few weeks looking at some Wrestlemania videos. This week’s edition may be controversial because it deals with Chris Benoit. We all know the tragedy that occurred in the final days of Benoit’s life, but that can’t completely erase the memories he left us with during his time in the ring. From ECW to WWE, there were plenty of amazing moments in Benoit’s 19 year career. No moment was more emotion than his match at Wrestlemania XX. That brings us to this week’s edition of Greatest Videos Eeeeeever…
Title: One of the Greatest Wrestlemania Moments Ever
Views: 229,513
Uploaded By HHHDominicanHHH
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYN9akZIndU]
The Story
On January 16th 2000, Chris Benoit won his first WCW World Heavyweight Title. 14 hours later, Benoit quit the company. Benoit was frustrated with WCW’s direction as well as his eternal existence as a mid-carder despite being one of the greatest wrestlers to ever step foot in the ring. Surely his exile to the mid-card was a product of his everlasting feud with Kevin Sullivan. After becoming the head booker of WCW, Sullivan gave Benoit his first and only shot at the World Title as a sign of good faith. It was too little too late and Benoit, along with his best friends Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko, jumped ship to WWE
Over the next four years Benoit had some amazing matches and multiple reigns as a Tag and IC champ, but he continued to come up short in his quest for the WWE championship. In late 2003, Benoit found himself in a series of tag matches and one thing was apparent: If he wanted a shot at the gold, he’d need to win the 2004 Royal Rumble. This goal was made all the more difficult when Paul E. Heyman named Benoit the first entrant into the Rumble. Against all odds, Benoit lasted a record-breaking 1 hour, 1 minute and 23 seconds to become the first man since Shawn Michaels to win the Rumble as the first wrestler to enter.
In a shocking move, Benoit decided to challenge World Heavyweight champion Triple H rather than WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. The decision to challenge Triple H was made all the more meaningful by the fact that HHH’s title was the same belt Benoit wore for one night as WCW champion. The Wrestlemania main event would soon become a triple threat match when HBK also signed his name to the contract after giving Benoit some Sweet Chin Music.
The Conclusion
After a 25 minute battle, A bloodied Triple H tapped to the Crippler Crossface giving Benoit his first WWE World Heavyweight championship as well as the first ever Wrestlemania main event victory by submission. An emotional Benoit was joined in the ring by best friend and WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero. Their embrace surely sends chills up the spine of any longtime wrestling fan. After 20 years of hard work, these two men found themselves simultaneously on top of the biggest company in their industry. That is what Wrestlemania is all about.
5 of 5 Diving Headbutts
