5 WWE Superstars who love Chris Benoit and 5 who disliked him

#5 Don’t Like Benoit: Vince McMahon

Chris Benoit hurt Vince McMahon's business.

Vince McMahon went out on a limb, to say the least, when he booked Chris Benoit to win the 2004 Royal Rumble and go on to defeat not only Triple H, but also Shawn Michaels in the main event of WrestleMania 20.

Benoit didn’t have the charisma or look of a John Cena or Hulk Hogan, nor the infectious personality that helped more similar in-ring talents like HBK and Daniel Bryan get over at the highest level. In the end, McMahon seemed to reward the guy who was honestly the best in-ring performer in the world at that moment.

Benoit didn’t exactly thrive as World Heavyweight Champion, though its debatable whether that was his responsibility, or that of the creative team and Benoit’s opponents. In the three years to follow, Benoit settled into an upper mid-card role as a perennial secondary championship contender and guy who get subbed into the main event picture as needed.

Benoit surely would have wound up a WWE Hall of Famer someday, were it not for the tragic way his life ended. As it stands, Benoit’s tragedy was not just a personally sad one for McMahon, but a move that threatened his business in one of the worst PR disasters that could befall WWE at large.

While an optimist might spin things to suggest Benoit paved the way for changes in how wrestling looks at head injuries and protects athletes, for McMahon, it was more of a condemnation of how WWE had done business up to that point.