3. Tie - Chris Benoit & Dynamite Kid
Unfortunately, the shadow that will forever hang over the late Chris Benoit, in the form of the double murder/suicide during which he took the lives of his wife and child (and then killed himself), has thoroughly eclipsed the rest of his resume. Rightly so. The stark, violent brutality that marked the end of Benoits life was a million miles removed from the gentle family man and dedicated professional remembered by friends, colleagues and family. What happened? Well probably never know. Wrestling fans, being wrestling fans, have espoused hundreds of crackpot theories to explain why their hero suddenly turned into a villain in the worst possible way. Sadly, it is fruitless to search for an explanation. Sometimes people just snap and, for his part, Benoit shattered like a brittle shard of glass dropped down a mineshaft. ...But thats got nothing to do with this list. Chris Benoit was one of the greatest technical wrestlers in the history of the WWE and his body of work speaks for itself. His series of matches against Chris Jericho (the missing number 11 on this list) were demonstrations of his mastery of the craft of pro wrestling, and his matches against Kurt Angle were peerless exhibitions of sheer excellence. To round out his impressive resume, Benoit was Bret Harts opponent in what was, quite possibly, The Hitmans last truly great match. In the ring, Benoit threw the greatest German suplex of all time, barring none. He also performed the best diving headbutt since Harley Race. His mat work included his violent and very much feared finisher, the aptly -named Crippler Crossface, Following the murder/suicide, WWE whitewashed Benoit from history, perhaps rightly, forgetting the man and his legacy in order to survive the resultant media backlash. However, Benoit was a former WCW Champion (albeit via a very brief and contentious reign), as well as a World Heavyweight Champion in the WWE. He Main Evented Pay Per Views and was just on the verge of becoming one of the companys major stars, when his career and his life, came to a short, bloody end. It is understandable that some people may find Benoits inclusion into this list distasteful and to those people I sincerely apologise. However, Chris Benoit was a genuinely fantastic wrestler and the body of work, if not the man himself, is worthy of remembrance. Dynamite Kid the wrestler that Benoit very obviously based himself on was a tough kid from England with a snarky attitude and a mean streak a mile wide. Away from the cameras, his problems with authority, together with his small stature and unorthodox style, meant that he never achieved the success level that his prodigious talents deserved. The name Dynamite Kid was no misnomer either; Tom Billington was super fast, supremely agile and extremely strong for his size. His offence was scrappy, hard and believable (often because it was all too real), but he was a damn fine technical wrestler, easily among the best ever. After working with a young Bret Hart in Calgarys Stampede Wrestling promotion and wowing audiences in Japan via a series of blistering bouts with Tiger Mask I (Satoru Sayama), Billington was eventually hired by the WWF, where he teamed with his cousin Davey Boy Smith, forming The British Bulldogs. Although he never enjoyed a singles run in the WWF, Dynamite Kid is still worthy of a place amongst the best technical wrestlers the promotion ever had. After all, if none other than Bret Hitman Hart rates you as the best wrestler he ever saw, you have to be doing something right.