WWE Backlash: 5 Best Performers of All Time
By Tim Sherry
3. Chris Benoit
Whether the WWE wants to admit that not only did Chris Benoit exist, but that he was also one of the very best wrestlers to ever grace the squared circle, is up to them. One can never ignore what Benoit did in the closing moments of on his own life, but the fact that the company continues to ignore the fact that he was a major player for them for over seven years is completely and utterly asinine. Honestly, go on WWE.com and see if you can find a picture or a video or even a small article that contains Benoit. It’s pretty tough.
But with all that aside, “The Crippler” was always a big time performer and he seemed to ramp it up for Backlash. Carrying a 4-1 record at the pay per view, Benoit was the model of consistency for the post-Mania show. He started of his Backlash resume with a disqualification win against Chris Jericho in 2000, a very good match because seriously, can you remember a bad Jericho/Benoit match? A year later he out-dueled Kurt Angle in a 32 minute, hard-hitting submission match to make him 2-0.
In 2004, Benoit had the wrestling year of his life. At WrestleMania 20 a month earlier, he won his first and only WWE world championship when he defeated Triple H and Shawn Michaels in a main event triple threat match that was one of the best matches in WWE history. A month later at Backlash he defended the belt against the same pair and although it wasn’t quite as good as their previous tilt, it was still outstanding. Benoit was victorious there but had his first Backlash loss a year later against Edge in an ultra-violent last man standing match. In 2007, Benoit finished up his Backlash career with a U.S. title defense win against MVP. Three months later he was dead. Nothing more to say here.