Benoit on Heat? WTF?
On the 8/29/04 edition of Sunday Night Heat, the main event made my brows arch so badly they wound up stuck to the ceiling somewhere.
Chris Benoit vs. Tyson Tomko w/Trish Stratus
Oh, how lovely. Is anyone else seeing the rampant problem with this?
Up until two weeks ago, Benoit was main eventing with the likes of Triple H, and Shawn Michaels, amid others. Then, he dropped the belt to Orton at Summerslam. Next thing anyone knows? He's on Heat. This does not bode well...
People keep saying there's nothing to worry about with Benoit being on there. That this doesn't signal a return to mid-card hell, and won't affect anything in the grand scheme of things. Certainly not with how he's going to be used on television in the future.
Spare me. His entire title reign amounted to one huge joke. It could have gone somewhere good. It had so much potential. And then, immediately after the whole thing with Hunter and Shawn? It fell apart directly. The matches became predictable. He was assisting Eugene more than he was doing anything else. Sure, it was a decent side story, but that's all it should have been. A side tangent to what could have been, should have been, an interesting reign. You could stuff this man into the ring with a broom, and he'd make a match with it look good.
So what I want to know is this? Why in the hell can't they do anything compelling with him? It's not for lack of wrestling talent. Christ knows he's got it in spades. What is it, then? Charisma? Oh, he's got it. Nobody pays a lick of attention to it, but he's got it. There were promos done back at the end of 2002/start of 2003 that showed this. People forgot all about it, as he wasn't handed a microphone for a good span of time after the fact. The spot he did with Big Show, where he was told he was too small to wrestle, and proceeded to kick him in the nuts, was priceless. You don't have to speak to have the ability to get a crowd going.
It's likely never going to work out with him being anywhere above mid-card hell. There's always the hope, but that hope extends to other people, like Jericho. He's been stuck in it for a few years, now. It doesn't make any sense. None. People with loads of potential are left to drift around the roster, while months ago, they were pushing Mark Henry. What. The. Fuck? And we can't forget about Goldberg and his glorious title run.
Maybe someday, people will yank their heads from their asses. I'm not going to hold my breath, however. I'll turn plaid before that happens.
Contact Abby
Want to submit a guest editorial? E-mail me.