Int Region, SF Subregion, Second Round: (7) Rey Mysterio vs. (10) Chris Benoit

[The Crock]

I'll take Rey Mysterio every day of the week. Chris Benoit was a great wrestler, but Rey Mysterio is better. Sure, Benoit is a great technician, but Mysterio is nearly just as good -- not to mention that Rey is more entertaining, more charismatic, and an overall better wrestler. Benoit is a midcarder, in essence. Don't let his World Heavyweight Championship fool you. Benoit was someone who could put up a good match for an up-and-comer, or even a veteran, but he would generally end up losing. I think he'd lose to Rey in this scenario too. Rey is one of the top guys in the WWE, he's achieved more and reached greater heights than Benoit ever did. Look at how long Benoit was on/near the top -- couldn't have been more than 6 months. What about Rey? He's been consistently near the top since his first World Heavyweight Championship reign. Sure, he went down and feuded for the Intercontinental Championship, but then he went on to feud for and win another World Heavyweight Championship. Rey has longevity, Benoit didn't. Benoit became nothing more than a fodder for young heels -- losses against Miz and MVP, among countless others, highlight that.

The match would surely be competitive -- probably one of the best match-ups this tournament has produced to date, in terms of in-ring action -- but I think we'd see Rey utilize his speed and his athletic ability to pull the win out over Benoit. Rey's made a career out of beating people he "shouldn't" beat, he's made a career out of being the ultimate underdog -- Benoit would fit right into that. It would be a travesty for Rey to lose this match, as people just don't seem to understand how good he REALLY is. Rey deserves to win this over Benoit, I don't see any way around that.

Vote Rey.

 

[pumpkinking8987]

I cant do it... I want to vote for Benoit but as a father anyone that kills their kid is just someone i cant vote for. I know it has nothing to do with his In-Ring career, but people give credit to Hogan for bringing WWE mainstream and adding huge numbers of fans. I could argue that even though Benoit had a good In-Ring career he brought so much negativity to the sport that he doesnt deserve a vote.

 

[Miko]

Benoit would challenge for winning this tournament (whether or not he deserves it) based on IWC groveling over his technical in-ring prowess if he had not killed himself and his family.

Both reached similar levels in terms of being on low end of the main event, but I think that Benoit reached an ultimately higher level than Rey ever reached, beating BOTH Triple H AND Shawn Michaels AT Wrestlemania and putting him as THE top guy. That's absolutely huge. At Mania XX, also...serving as a natural transition for the company.

Rey has never been THE top guy. When he's been World Champ...he's clearly the 2nd tier world champ or he's just a transition guy.


My vote goes to Benoit.

Benoit was never the top guy, his World Title win is almost identical to Rey's, both men won the Rumble, both men lost a match so the other competitor could get in, both went on to win the Triple Threat regardless. Orton and Kurt, no less impressive than beating HHH and Shawn.

Had Eddie not been champ on Smackdown and Lesnar still been around, Benoit would certainly have been Champ no. 2, in fact he still was, Guerrero was better than Benoit, Benoit was a transitional Champ, probably only so that HHH didnt have to drop the belt to Orton. He was playing second fiddle to the snooze-fest that was the HHH vs HBK fued. Rey at least was good enough to get another run.

I think Ricky nailed this for me. Benoit reached a height that even Rey, bless him, couldn't touch. Mysterio had a similar run to the title like Benoit only it was far less impressive and the reigns themselves are world's apart. Mysterio's title reign is considered one of the weakest in wrestling history while Benoit had a very solid run from one premier PPV in WrestleMania to another in SummerSlam defeating Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Kane all on PPV before losing to, as Jerry Lawler put it, "the man of destiny" in Randy Orton. Because I can't really think of another way to separate them, this is what I'm going with. Benoit for his superior run at the top.

Who says his reign was poor though? He got beat up by big guys, thats what little guys do, still won when it counted with the belt on the line. WWE obviously saw something in him, they gave him a second run, he got more than one title reign in the same length of time as it took Benoit to get one title reign and then end up swinging from his gym equipment.

I cant do it... I want to vote for Benoit but as a father anyone that kills their kid is just someone i cant vote for. I know it has nothing to do with his In-Ring career, but people give credit to Hogan for bringing WWE mainstream and adding huge numbers of fans. I could argue that even though Benoit had a good In-Ring career he brought so much negativity to the sport that he doesnt deserve a vote.

You made the right choice, Rey is better.

 

[Cmills005]

Coinflip of a matchup here. I'll say Mysterio because Beniot is used to being the undersized guy and he may struggle some with actually having a size advantage. I could easily be convinced to go Beniot here. But Mysterio had a slightly better career.

 

[Davi323]

This was a tough one for me. There was a long time where after Hogan and Steamboat, Chris Benoit was my favorite wrestler. I absolutely loved his wrestling style. I love guys that will just out wrestle the shit out of you. But, if I take Rey Mysterio in his prime, that guy could do things that as a fan primarily of American style wrestling, I had simply never seen before. This would be one of the most entertaining matches in this tournament, with counterholds to counterholds, each man capable of reversing just about everything the other did. In the end though, I think Rey would come out on top.