Austin Region, New Orleans Subregion, First Round (8)Chris Benoit vs.(25)Dean Ambrose

[HBK-aholic]

This is a first round match in the Austin Region, New Orleans Subregion. It is a standard one on one match. It will be held at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

#8. Chris Benoit


Vs.

#25. Dean Ambrose


​

Polls will be open for three days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster.


Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.

 

[Sean Valjean]

UGH. Dammit, I love both of these guys and don't want to see either lose in the first round. My head says Benoit but my heart says Ambrose.

Let's get the obvious out of the way: Benoit can out-wrestle Dean. Benoit can outpace Dean. Based on how his life ended, Benoit can probably out-crazy Dean too. Benoit has won more titles. Chris will probably win this (and maybe he should), so I'll focus on establishing why Dean could very well pull off the win.

When you look the advantages I gave Benoit over Ambrose, you know who also shares them? Triple H, a man who, on paper, is superior to Dean in every way. Yet Dean not only hung with Hunter, he basically pinned clean for the WWE title, thwarted only by a technicality. The same goes for Seth Rollins. The point is that Ambrose can beat world champions, and the times that he has, only technical BS got in the way of him actually being awarded the belt.

Ambrose's strongest attribute is the ability to absorb tremendous punishment. Benoit will go to town on Dean with various suplexes and chops, but Dean will just keep coming. Benoit tends to win matches via submission (Crossface/Sharpshooter) and Ambrose doesn't give up.

You can knock Dean for his inability to win the big one, but Benoit only won the big one once in Madison Square Garden. Other than his 4-5 month main event run, Benoit has been an upper mid-carder at most his entire career – the exact same spot as Ambrose. If anything, Dean has a FAR better shot of breaking into the main event and actually staying there than Benoit ever did. You MIGHT argue Dean is already a bigger star in terms of mainstream popularity and would go over on charisma alone.

Chris really isn't this insurmountable obstacle for Dean. Benoit took the fall against lesser guys more often than you'd think. I mean, the guy lost the US title in two straight falls to a rookie MVP of all people.

You know what, screw it. I'm voting Ambrose here. He won't win, but I've manage to convince myself that he could at least. I envision a completely spent Ambrose catching a lax Benoit, who thinks he's in total control, with a basic roll-up and completely surprising the technical master.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

In terms of who I'm voting for, I'm backing Benoit. While Benoit's time at the top may have been short, and involved the help of a character more popular and only slightly less fucked in the head than Benoit himself, at least he's actually had time at the top and has far more accomplishments and big wins to his name than Ambrose.

Maybe next year, Ambrose will have raked in enough to contest Benoit. But right now, Benoit has a distinctive advantage.

 

[Tastycles]

Benoit was boring and bland, despite his in ring quality. He had title reigns in WCW and WWE when both companies were desperate, but never capitalised on that momentum particularly in either company. It remains to be seen where Ambrose's ceiling is, but one thing is for certain - he hasn't murdered any children, so he's much easier to vote for. Ambrose.

 

[Dave]

Dean Ambrose is a terrible Wrestler. I've said it before and I will continue to say it until he actually starts to show some development on his move set. Chris Benoit killed his family? Yeah, thats an atrocity. But he was still an amazing Wrestler. The guy was as close to the perfect technical Wrestler as there probably ever has been. What's more, he has the talent and brutality to meet browse and play him at his own game.

There is simply no way that Benoit shouldn't win this.

 

[OYDK]

There is simply no way that Benoit shouldn't win this.

Long and short of it.

Chris Benoit in the ring was an animal matched only by the likes of Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar. I love Dean Ambrose. He's one of the few guys that I'm a legitimate mark for, but unless this is a hardcore match, he ain't beating Benoit. Benoit could pull that Crossface out of nowhere, and this being the first time these two meet, I doubt Ambrose could prepare for it. Benoit can undoubtedly stay away from a DDT.

Perhaps had this taken place after Mania with Ambrose beating Lesnar, I might find this closer, but I don't see Ambrose hanging around with Benoit for a prolonged period of time in a wrestling match. He'd get caught eventually like everyone else has.

 

[NSL]

Benoit wins this, and shame on anyone who brings up his death and the events surrounding it. I don't see how it's relevant, unless he was in the middle of the ring on Smackdown when he did it. He was an outstanding wrestler who lacked in areas like charisma and mic skills, but he really didn't need to. How many times has Brock given an acceptable promo? He has a mouthpiece for that. Benoit did what he needed to do...Show up, kick ass, take names, chew bubblegum.

 

[nightmare]

Dean Ambrose is a terrible Wrestler. I've said it before and I will continue to say it until he actually starts to show some development on his move set. Chris Benoit killed his family? Yeah, thats an atrocity. But he was still an amazing Wrestler. The guy was as close to the perfect technical Wrestler as there probably ever has been. What's more, he has the talent and brutality to meet browse and play him at his own game.

There is simply no way that Benoit shouldn't win this.

This. Ambrose is all attitude, minimal skill. An edgy indy brawler who got a big break when hired on & eventually put in to The Shield. I hate to agree with Madden on most things, but he is right in saying how terrible Ambrose's working punches are.

Benoit is light years ahead of Dean in talent & his intensity trumps wacky lunatic any day of the week. Will Ambrose get better? Hopefully. He is entertaining & has probably another 10 years in ring ahead of him, so he should eventually. As it stands now, Benoit takes this. He chops away, hits some suplexes and makes Ambrose tap.

 

[enviousdominous]

......................................................God forgive me for what I'm about to do.

I'm an Ambrose mark, and a mildly intelligent human being who realizes that those two aspects tend to clash with each other. I love to see Dean win, but can he please stop doing that fucking stupid rebound off the ring ropes? So his opponent just thought that he was falling through the ropes and thought "This is a good time to stand prone while internally gloating over this latest accomplishment."

Chris Benoit, yeah. This is like arguing on behalf of allowing history to honor flying aces of the Luftwaffe, but here goes.

Chris Benoit had an amazing career, and he inspired many young men to stand up for themselves and challenge the roid-jacked status quo of the prowrestling world. Dean has a looong way to go before I'd consider him ready to take on a prime Chris Benoit.

Do we even need to examine a comparison of accomplishments? No? Thank GOD! I'm going to go say some Hail Marys now just on principle, but I'm going to Hell for this. Vote Benoit.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

I like Ambrose and how is developing. I think I have a thread somewhere where I predicted he will be Main Eventing and hot by Mania like a year ago. Thought I'd throw that in.

I think we are seeing Ambrose's presumable peak at the moment; I have a feeling he beats Lesnar at Mania. Benoit the wrestler is great, I like Dean more.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Chris Benoit is a great wrestler and one of the best of all time. However I can't vote for him because of what he did. I just can't. That's WAY too much to overlook.

 

[NSL]

Chris Benoit is a great wrestler and one of the best of all time. However I can't vote for him because of what he did. I just can't. That's WAY too much to overlook.

Did it happen in the ring, as part of a match? No. It has absolutely zero to do with his career as a professional wrestler, and his accomplishments. If you're not voting for him because of this, then I hope you're not voting for Austin, for beating his wife. Or HBK for cheating on his wife. Or Hogan for his various indiscretions.

Be consistent.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Did it happen in the ring, as part of a match? No. It has absolutely zero to do with his career as a professional wrestler, and his accomplishments. If you're not voting for him because of this, then I hope you're not voting for Austin, for beating his wife. Or HBK for cheating on his wife. Or Hogan for his various indiscretions.

Be consistent.

Murder is a lot more serious. He took his own son's life. There is no way I would vote for him.

 

[NSL]

Murder is a lot more serious. He took his own son's life. There is no way I would vote for him.

I'm not arguing that he's a good person. I'm arguing that he's a better wrestler (by far) than Dean Ambrose. And that's what this is about. If we were ranking and voting on guys, based on their moral compass, we'd have a hard time filling a 128-man bracket. Hell, I'd say we'd have a hard time filling a 32-man bracket.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Too bad Benoit didn't start his career later so that there could be doctors and technology to prevent him from continuing it, before it was too late.

i'm looking this from another perspective. If Verne Gagne can pass through a 2-time World Champion Roman Reigns then Chris Benoit should definately go through Dean Ambrose.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Benoit wins this, and shame on anyone who brings up his death and the events surrounding it. I don't see how it's relevant, unless he was in the middle of the ring on Smackdown when he did it. He was an outstanding wrestler who lacked in areas like charisma and mic skills, but he really didn't need to. How many times has Brock given an acceptable promo? He has a mouthpiece for that. Benoit did what he needed to do...Show up, kick ass, take names, chew bubblegum.

Benoit does win this, but there is a reason I left him off my list. He almost killed the wrestling business along with his family. When you do that kind of damage to the sport, it is hard to call you an all time great. So shame on me I guess.

Dean may have one of the longest US title reigns in history, but it was so forgettable and he rarely defended it. It was more of an accessory than anything else. He was an okay IC champ during a time when the IC title has been greatly devalued. He is likely going to surpass the accolades that Benoit had, but for now when you look at their resumes, Benoit takes it.

 

[Stormtrooper]

This is a simple one for me, and if anyone has a problem with it too bad.

Dean Ambrose wins this one immediately since he isn't wrestling anybody. He walks to the ring, gets in, and the ring announcer says he wins by default since there's no opponent.

 

[Dave]

This is a simple one for me, and if anyone has a problem with it too bad.

Dean Ambrose wins this one immediately since he isn't wrestling anybody. He walks to the ring, gets in, and the ring announcer says he wins by default since there's no opponent.

This is, by far, the winner of idiotic post of the round. Congrats.

Because the WWE is burying Benoit, it doesn't mean that you or I have to. Chris Benoit was a fantastic wrestler zthat was gifted with terrific wrestling abilities; both in an out of the ring. He displayed to everyone during his wrestling career that he could mix it with the absolute best of them and come out successful at the end of it all. Dean Ambrose is yet to pick up any sort of high profile win against anyone on the highest level in the WWE.

Voting for anyone other than Benoit here is a joke.

 

[Coco]

Be consistent.

Don't worry: I intend to vote against everyone in this year's tournament who killed their wife and their son.

Which I, unlike yourself, don't feel is outside the purview of this discussion. The goal of professional wrestling is to build and sustain a work that drains the wallets of paying customers ad infinitum. Benoit killing his family and himself put an unflattering light on the industry which nearly cost everyone in it their livelihood. So in a way, Benoit is the worst professional wrestler of all time.

Dean hasn't killed anybody that we know of, and he hasn't threatened the existence of the entire professional wrestling business.

So I vote Dean.

 

[Bernkastel]

I voted for Chris Benoit because I think he had a much more fruitful career and had far more impact on the industry; positive as a worker and negative with the personal decisions he chose to make. But Dean gets kudos from me for taking the weed eater spot in CZW. Not many have.

 

[Coco]

I voted for Chris Benoit because I think he had a much more fruitful career and had far more impact on the industry; positive as a worker and negative with the personal decisions he chose to make.

For those keeping score, that amounts to a net negative. Right?

That being the case (lord do I hope you don't disagree with that...), I don't understand why you're voting for Benoit.

Seems that by even bringing up the negative personal decisions he made, you're arguing against your man. Which is the wise thing to do.

 

[Bernkastel]

For those keeping score, that amounts to a net negative. Right?

That being the case (lord do I hope you don't disagree with that...), I don't understand why you're voting for Benoit.

Seems that by even bringing up the negative personal decisions he made, you're arguing against your man. Which is the wise thing to do.

Oh? So I guess you'll be voting against Austin for beating up his wife then. I don't condone what Chris Benoit did, and I also do not ignore the negative impact that his decisions had on the industry. But separating Chris Benoit the man from Chris Benoit the performer, he had an outstanding career that can't be denied even if history tries to suppress it.

And Dean Ambrose as a performer has not accomplished or done enough to surpass Chris Benoit as a performer.

 

[Coco]

Oh? So I guess you'll be voting against Austin for beating up his wife then.

No. Because we both know Austin beating his wife didn't have the same adverse impact on the industry that Benoit's actions did.

I don't condone what Chris Benoit did, and I also do not ignore the negative impact that his decisions had on the industry.

You do when you vote for him.

But separating Chris Benoit the man from Chris Benoit the performer, he had an outstanding career that can't be denied even if history tries to suppress it.

And yet, and I can't stress this enough, he almost killed the business. He can be the most "technically sound" guy in the world. But killing the business is the opposite of what a good worker does. He's literally the worst professional wrestler of all time. He is the opposite of what this tournament celebrates and he has no place in the bracket.

Still some crisp ring work though.

 

[Navi]

While a lot as been made of what Benoit did, and yes he is a scumbag for doing so, and it would be a lie to say part of why I voted for Ambrose was because of that reason. But a question was asked on the "Ask a question" thread about do we vote for the character, in this case Goldberg, or all of Dustin's characters? The answer was "Dustin as a whole".

So using that loophole, if you were just looking at Ambrose in the WWE then yes Benoit would win this, but knowing what Ambrose did before he joined the WWE I voted for the Dean Ambrose character as a whole.

Mind you it wasn't a hard vote to cast. I'm a Shield mark, Ambrose is one of my fav's and well Benoit nuff said about him.

 

[OYDK]

There's no point of having Benoit in these tournaments. Judging from the vote most people can't seperate the personal from the professional. He's losing to Dean Ambrose for crying out loud, it's a joke.

Just for the record, had Benoit not committed his disgusting acts of atrocities, he'd be blowing out Ambrose right now. But let's put Ambrose in and make the second round that much more of a squash.