Benoit did have charisma

[mdh85]

Benoit was fucking tremendous as a heel. Go back and watch the promos after he dropped Sabu on his big stupid head in ECW, or the angles and matches just after he came to the WWF and tried to repeatedly pull The Rock's head off with the Crossface while looking like a demented psycho. He was scary. Not really surprising considering he turned out to be a legit fucked up mentalist, but there you go.

 

Shoehorned into a babyface role just 'cos the Netsmarks wanted to see him win the big belt? Nah, he was gash. But I'd like to see pretty much anyone else carry off "(Insert Name Here) IS 4 REAL!!!!!" as a catchphrase, and the entirity of what Creative has given them to work with, and get over as a lead babyface.

 

Benoit was charismatic. He just wasn't charismatic in the same way as Steve Austin and The Rock, and WWE didn't know how to use that. I think there's a tendency for wrestling fans to equate "charismatic" with "entertaining on the microphone", and they are by no means the same thing. Benoit wasn't the guy who would talk you into the arena, but he had charisma in that he inhabited and expressed his character effectively and believeably, and in the right role he was a very convincing and engaging on-screen personality. Much more charismatic for my money than someone like, say, The Pope - who talks a good game and might make you laugh and think he looks cool, but you ultimately couldn't give two fucks if he wins or loses.

[TheBigBoot]

The first part has been debated to death over the years but I tend to agree that Benoit did have charisma. Not just at showing intensity either. There's no doubt he was convincing at being the psychotic heel but I think later in his career he became a really, really good sympathetic babyface from around 1997 on and Benoit isn't someone you see and automatically think of as being sympathetic.

 

It wasn't just his crisp execution of moves that got him over with the masses, there was something else. Physically he was great at telling a story in the ring and his body language was normally spot on and I do think he was able to show some personality and get his character across to the point people cared about it.

 

He could be quite funny occasionally as well when he got to rely on physical humour (IIRC the times they had him crack jokes his verbal delivery of one-liners was pretty cringeworthy). I remember that incident with the lowrider before SummerSlam 2003 where everyone was asking why he couldn't show that sense of humour more often. Same with some of the skits with Kurt Angle and JBL but they were few and far between. Understandably so as well since 'Benoit the practical joker' took away from his 'Benoit the intense technical brawler' personality he perfected.

 

It's come up before that his charisma stood out more in Japan, where it was all about what he did in the match, but didn't stand out as much compared to the more obvious charisma of guys in the US Big Two and I can see why. The whole Pegasus character seemed to have a certain Dynamite Kid-style cockiness about him that worked in a Junior Heavy environment but I think in general he could get across his character in-ring anywhere he went to varying extents.

 

On the mike, less so. Unlike Richie, I actually thought he seemed a bit nervous in some of WCW stuff when he was required to give more than one line, whilst in WWE he looked like he was reading of a script. Worst on the microphone ever that he is often made out to be? In my opinion, no chance but for guys who made it to the top of the card in the past thirty years he's got to be comfortably in the bottom section of that group.

 

He did have his moments: his taped ECW promos were really good and I thought he showed the potential to develop into at least a decent speaker as did some of his early WCW stuff (although they were smart enough to have Arn/Flair/Pillman/Jarrett do most of the talking when he was a Horseman) and I remember his shoot-style promo about his family before the Four Way Elimination Match on SmackDown! in December 2002 being good (although I haven't seen it since). There were a few other occasions like that when he was talking about real life type stuff or things that obviously meant a lot to him like winning the title where he came across as genuine but when he tried to do wrestling style acting he just came across as forced especially when he had to deliver catchphrases. It just seemed so unnatural to him: "Toothless Aggression", "Prove Me Wrong", "For Real", etc.

 

I do agree that even then he came across as psychotic - any man who can call himself "silent but violent" with a monotone voice and a straight face has to be a bit messed up in the head.

[PowerButchi]

Benoit was never an actually good promo. In ECW his promos were ok but they were heavily edited with him rubbing his hands like a paedo.

 

But... If... You... Watch... Him... In... WCW... Or... WWE... He... Talks... like... This... And... It's... Not... Natural... It's... Actually... Quite... Shite... Pausing... For... Breath... After... Every... Word... Doesn't... Make... You... Intense... It... Makes... You... A... Poor..............

 

 

 

...

 

 

Promo...

[neil]

Pausing for breath runs in the family.

[PowerButchi]

[gmoney]

He's easily the worst interview of any world champion in the modern era (although I couldn't say about Swagger as I don't know I've seen a promo by him).

 

EDIT: Excluding Khali and Jeff Hardy now I ruminate on it, actually.

[Richie Freebird]

Absolutely splendid posts there from both Big Boot and mdh85. Both containing some sentiments I share, except explained in a much better way than I did when starting the thread. Sterling work gentlemen.

 

On the mike, less so. Unlike Richie, I actually thought he seemed a bit nervous in some of WCW stuff when he was required to give more than one line

 

As far as this point goes, I did actually touch on it earlier with this -

 

He did look sometimes slightly awkward when the Gene

[PepperPlunge]

He had more of a subtle charisma than most. I think he was believable. I was 13 when Benoit first won the world title and I was a massive fan of his at the time. I knew insider stuff then but when watching wrestling, I'd still say I was pretty much a smark and I completely bought into him. Even then I realised that his world title run wasn't very good though. I think he had a subtle charisma that wasn't in your face.

[Tommy!]

Benoit did have a real charisma at certain times, I don't know what it was that would do it. Perhaps it was when he was driven or motivated or something but there were times on and off when I would really buy into his intensity and what he was doing and why. Sadly that stopped some time in 2001 and never started again, his matches were still as good I just didn't care about him because he lost that spark.

 

His promos were almost always underwhelming without some one else to help out or some good editing I felt.

[Barrington]

I remember The Rock and Stone Cold getting massive ovations, because they were awesome in the ring and their promos were always brilliant. Then I look at Benoit who didnt cut the best promo, in fact they were terrible, but when he used to make his entrance, the crowd were always on their feet. They always gave him the biggest reaction pretty much out of everyone on raw or smackdown at the time. I can watch his stuff and easily forget about the incident as tragic as it was. I might be being selfish here, yes he did what he did but the wrestling world lost a true great! sorry if that sounds well out of order, dont want to take away from his poor family.