10 Things We Learned From Chris Jericho's Podcast On Chris Benoit's Death
4. WWE Downplayed Benoit's Skills
Benoit was already well established as one of the consensus best wrestlers in the world by the time he joined the WWF in 2000. Though his greatest work took place in Japan, his immense skill was always apparent regardless of whether he was working a main event or the opening match - but WWE refused to give him his due behind the scenes.
According to Meltzer and Jericho, the overbearing company attitude was that Benoit was no more than a solid worker who could only have a good match when paired with the right opponent. After wrestling Benoit in the Canadian's debut match, Triple H reportedly said "he's not bad, he's alright," which shocked Jericho.
This was apparently the norm at the time. The WCW vs. WWF wrestling war was real, and any performer who transferred from Ted Turner's company to Vince McMahon's was met with the same treatment. Though this was most apparent during the Invasion, this story proves that the problem clearly existed several years beforehand.
WWE didn't want the WCW guys to make their native talent look bad, but Meltzer quickly pointed out the hypocrisy in this: "they're not WCW guys anymore: they're your guys, so why bury them?"