Erased! The Tragic Story of Chris Benoit

Chris Benoit was a life long wrestling fan, who idolized The Dynamite Kid when he was young. His training and introduction into the wrestling world came inside the legendary Hart Family Dungeon, and in 1985, Benoit made his wrestling debut working for Stu Hart‘s Calgary Stampede Wrestling promotion. While still working for Stampede, Benoit began training at the legendary New Japan Dojo, and began wrestling for NJPW on a part time basis as well. Benoit enjoyed some success in Stampede Wrestling, but the promotion closed its doors in 1989, at which time he went back to Japan and began working for NJPW full time. His new home promotion would also come with a character change. He would no longer perform under his real name, but instead would wear a mask and be known as The Pegasus Kid. Benoit was initially reluctant to the idea of wrestling in a mask, but he went on record saying that it eventually became a part of him. In NJPW Benoit was part of a stacked Jr. Heavyweight division that already included the likes of Shijiro Otani, Black Tiger, El Samurai, and the legendary Jushin “Thunder” Liger. As The Pegasus Kid, he would go on to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship, and have a classic feud with Liger. In 1991 Benoit would lose a title match and his mask to Liger, and would go on to be known as Wild Pegasus for the remainder of his NJPW run. Benoit became a big time performer during his time in Japan. Along with the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship, Benoit also won the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in 1993 and 1995, and he won the Super J Cup in 1994. His overseas success made him a hot commodity worldwide and he even began to garner the attention of America’s top promotions. In 1992 and 1993 Benoit had a few matches in WCW, working with 2 Cold Scorpio, but it would be in 1994 that his career would make a more full time shift to the States and take an “extreme” turn.