10 Wrestlers Who Quit WCW Over Angles

6. Chris Benoit - Winning A World Title He Didn't Want

Chris Benoit was vocally unhappy with WCW in the lead-up to the Souled Out 2000 pay-per-view where he would make Sid Vicious tap out to the Crippler Crossface to become the World Heavyweight Champion.

Issues with head booker Kevin Sullivan had escalated to the point Benoit had started hating coming into work every week for Nitro and Thunder. When WCW informed Benoit he was winning the title Benoit had stopped caring at that point and told them “I don’t want it. I don’t want this opportunity. I’m not happy and I want to leave.” Regardless, Sullivan and WCW management booked Benoit to win that night, thinking it would convince Chris into staying. But Benoit saw past the gesture for what it truly was. As he had seen with others in the past, WCW were patting him on the back only to politically knife him in the back later. Benoit showed up at Nitro the next day and quit WCW.

Chris said of the win: “It was a stale accomplishment. It was very tarnished because I knew that there was a lot of political motivation and a lot of political reasons behind giving me that opportunity.”