Editing Chris Benoit (section)

=== Extreme Championship Wrestling (1994–1995) ===
In August 1994, Benoit began working with [[Extreme Championship Wrestling]] (ECW) in between tours of Japan. He was booked as a dominant wrestler there, gaining notoriety as the "Crippler" after he put [[Rocco Rock]] out. In his first appearance, Benoit competed in a [[NWA World Title Tournament|one-night eight-man tournament]] for the vacant [[NWA World Heavyweight Championship]], losing to [[2 Cold Scorpio]] in the quarter-finals match.<ref name="Williams2013">{{cite book |author=Scott E. Williams |title=Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of ECW |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4EQtAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT56 |date=December 13, 2013 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing Company, Incorporated |isbn=978-1-61321-582-1 |pages=56–57}}</ref><ref name="Loverro2007">{{cite book |author=Thom Loverro |title=The Rise & Fall of ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j0dlOLyCj6YC |date=May 22, 2007 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4165-6156-9 |pages=67–78}}</ref>

At [[November to Remember (1994)|November to Remember]], Benoit accidentally broke [[Sabu (wrestler)|Sabu]]'s neck within the opening seconds of the match. The injury came when Benoit threw Sabu with the intention that he take a face-first "pancake" [[Bump (professional wrestling)|bump]], but Sabu attempted to turn mid-air and take a backdrop bump instead. He did not achieve full rotation and landed almost directly on his neck.<ref name="hell162163">{{cite book |title=Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit & The Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry |last=Randazzo V |first=Matthew |publisher=Phoenix Books |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ringofhellstoryo0000rand/page/162 162–163] |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-59777-622-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/ringofhellstoryo0000rand/page/162}}</ref>

After this match Benoit returned to the locker room and broke down over the possibility that he might have paralysed someone.<ref name="hell162163"/> [[Paul Heyman]], the head booker of ECW at the time, came up with the idea of continuing the "Crippler" moniker for Benoit. From that point until his departure from ECW, he was known as "Crippler Benoit". When he returned to WCW in October 1995, WCW modified his ring name to "Canadian Crippler Chris Benoit". In ''The Rise and Fall of ECW'' book, Heyman commented that he planned on using Benoit as a dominant heel for quite some time, before putting the company's main title, the [[ECW World Heavyweight Championship]], on him to be the long-term champion of the company.

Benoit and [[Dean Malenko]] won the [[ECW World Tag Team Championship]]{{snd}}Benoit's first American title{{snd}}from Sabu and [[Tazz|The Tazmaniac]] in February 1995 at [[Return of the Funker]].<ref name="Titles"/> After winning, they were initiated into the [[The Triple Threat|Triple Threat]] [[List of professional wrestling terms#S|stable]], led by ECW World Heavyweight Champion, [[Shane Douglas]], as Douglas's attempt to recreate the [[Four Horsemen (professional wrestling)|Four Horsemen]], as the three-man contingency held all three of the ECW championships at the time (Malenko also held the [[ECW World Television Championship]] at the time). The team lost the championship to [[The Public Enemy (professional wrestling)|The Public Enemy]] that April at [[Three Way Dance]]. Benoit spent some time in ECW feuding with [[The Steiner Brothers]] and rekindling the feud with 2 Cold Scorpio. He was forced to leave ECW after his work visa expired; Heyman was supposed to renew it, but he failed to make it on time, so Benoit left ECW in August 1995 as a matter of job security and the ability to enter the United States. He toured Japan until WCW called.<ref name="Titles"/>