WWE: 10 Controversial Wrestlers Who Belong In The WWE Hall of Fame

1. Chris Benoit

Chris-Benoit Ok, hold on, before you get upset just hear me out on this one. I'm not arguing from a moral standpoint that Benoit belongs in the Hall, that's up to WWE (and it's completely understandable why they would never let him in), but if you judge him solely by the merits of his career, then he definitely belongs in. Before the name Benoit was remembered for the awful crimes he committed, it was a name of respect. By all accounts, he was one of the most respected and hard working men in wrestling. He didn't have the flashy charisma of a Rock or Steve Austin, he just had an incredible amount of intensity and in-ring skills. For most of his career, though, he was overlooked. While he was in WCW, he was continually putting on some of the best matches on the show while lazier talent like Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash were hogging the main-events. He was a wrestler's wrestler, and became a favorite of the hardcore fans. All he needed was for someone to recognize his talent. When he joined WWE in 2000, he was still cast as a mid-carder, but he slowly began rising through the ranks before finally capturing the World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania XX. It was the peak of his career, and while the run on top didn't last very long, it was well earned. After that, he started to settle back to the mid-card, and that in part (along with a troubled marriage, years of head trauma and ridiculously high levels of testosterone in his body) led to some of his personal troubles. He became paranoid and thought he was going to be released, and that people were following him. Benoit murdered his family and killed himself. It remains the greatest tragedy in wrestling, and because of the horrific nature of his death, it simply does not matter what he accomplished in his in-ring career. We will never Chris Benoit honored in the WWE Hall of Fame.
 
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As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at." Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week. Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com