10 Wrestling Mistakes & Botches That Became Storylines

5. Chris Benoit Breaks Sabu’s Neck

Chris Benoit was regarded as one of the most intensely ruthless wrestlers when coming up and making a name for himself in the ‘90s. He went by the nickname ‘The Crippler’, with many people not knowing the origin of the name.

‘The Crippler’ moniker was given to him when competing in ECW. He wrestled Sabu in the hardcore promotion, with Benoit savagely throwing Sabu over his head at one point in the match which resulted in Sabu breaking his neck (Sabu held no blame against Benoit for the botch in real life, as Sabu was the one who improperly turned his body mid-air that had him land head-first on the mat).

On later episodes of ECW Hardcore TV commentator/host Joey Styles, after showing clips of Chris Benoit’s devastation in ECW in numerous matches with Sabu, Hack Myers and Ron Simmons, claimed Benoit was now referring to himself as ‘The Crippler’, with him later calling his finisher the Crippler Crossface. This was Paul Heyman yet again accentuating the positives and hiding the negatives. He pushed Benoit’s sadistic aggression that got him mega over with the ECW faithful. Had Chris Benoit stayed with ECW (he left for Japan/WCW) Heyman confirmed he would have pushed ‘The Crippler’ as a headline attraction and eventual winner of the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.