10 Superstars WCW Completely Wasted
2. Chris Benoit
It's no secret that, by the end of his time in WCW, Chris Benoit had had enough. After taking the familiar Japan - ECW - WCW path, The Rabid Wolverine managed to climb up the card based on his incredible workrate and the fact that he could get good-to-great match out of just about anybody.
He became a member of the reshuffled Four Horseman stable in 1995, tagging with Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman in-between butting heads with regular opponents Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko and William Regal. It was also during this time that Benoit engaged in a long and personal feud with WCW booker Kevin Sullivan.
Sullivan had 'booked his own divorce', matching up his then-wife Nancy (who performed as 'Woman') with the Crippler, ensuring that they kept up the façade on the road. They fell in love, leading to some real-life tensions that ensured Benoit was never truly comfortable in the company.
1998 saw Benoit engage in a Best of Seven Series with Booker T over the United States Title, which upped the status of both men. 1999 was spent mostly tagging with backstage buddy Malenko, leading to yet more rewarding tussles in the ring. It was obvious at this point that Chris Benoit was one of, if not the, most talented workers in the entire company, a consummate professional and World Champion material.
This was evident during his Owen Hart tribute match loss to Owen's brother Bret on the October 4th, 1999 episode of Benoit. He looked like one of the most accomplished performers on the planet, hanging with The Excellence of Execution every step of the way before putting him over cleanly.
Come January 2000, Benoit was tired of the political situation in the locker room and disgusted by the creative direction WCW was going in. He wanted out and made it clear, but that didn't stop WCW giving him a token WCW World Heavyweight Title win over Sid at Souled Out.
It wasn't enough to placate the Canadian, who already had his sights set on either returning to New Japan or moving on to WWE. He and his fellow radicals gave Vince and JR a call and, mere weeks later he was battling Triple H in the main event of Smackdown.
His first year-and-a-half in WWE was a good one, as he headlined many pay-per-views against the Federation's top stars.