Editing Chris Benoit (section)

=== Return to WCW (1995&ndash;2000) ===
==== The Four Horsemen (1995&ndash;1999) ====
[[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]] (NJPW) and [[World Championship Wrestling]] (WCW) had a working relationship, and because of their "talent exchange" program, Benoit signed with WCW in late 1995 along with a number of talent working in New Japan to be a part of the [[List of professional wrestling terms#A|angle]]. Like the majority of those who came to WCW in the exchange, he started out in as a member of the [[cruiserweight (professional wrestling)|cruiserweight]] division, having lengthy matches against many of his former rivals in Japan on almost every single broadcast. At the end of 1995, Benoit went back to Japan as a part of the "talent exchange" to wrestle as a representative for New Japan in the [[Super J-Cup#1995|Super J-Cup: 2nd Stage]], defeating [[Chris Jericho|Lionheart]] in the quarterfinals (he received a bye to the quarterfinals for his work in 1995, similar to the way he advanced in the 1994 edition) and losing to [[Keiji Takayama|Gedo]] in the semifinals.

[[File:Lisa and Chris Benoit.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1|Benoit with a fan during his time in WCW]]
After impressing higher-ups with his work, he was approached by [[Ric Flair]] and the WCW booking staff to become a member of the reformed [[Four Horsemen (professional wrestling)|Four Horsemen]] in 1995, alongside Flair, [[Arn Anderson]], and [[Brian Pillman]]; he was introduced by Pillman as a gruff, no-nonsense heel similar to his ECW persona, "The Crippler". He was brought in to add a new dynamic for Anderson and Flair's tormenting of [[Hulk Hogan]] and [[Randy Savage]] in their "Alliance to End Hulkamania", which saw the Horsemen team up with [[The Dungeon of Doom]], but that alliance ended with Dungeon leader and WCW [[List of professional wrestling terms#B|booker]], [[Kevin Sullivan (wrestler)|Kevin Sullivan]] feuding with Pillman. When Pillman abruptly left the company for the WWF, Benoit was placed into his ongoing feud with Sullivan. This came to fruition through a dissension between the two in a tag team match with the two reluctantly teaming with each other against [[The Public Enemy (professional wrestling)|The Public Enemy]], and Benoit being attacked by Sullivan at [[Slamboree 1996|Slamboree]]. This led to the two having violent confrontations at [[pay-per-view]]s, which led to Sullivan booking a feud in which Benoit was having an [[affair]] with Sullivan's real-life wife and [[Kayfabe|onscreen]] [[List of professional wrestling terms#V|valet]], [[Nancy Benoit|Nancy]] (also known as Woman). Benoit and Nancy were forced to spend time together to make the affair look real, (hold hands in public, share hotel rooms, etc.).<ref>[http://www.metafilter.com/62384/Chris-Benoit-19672007 Chris Benoit (1967–2007) profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202041755/https://www.metafilter.com/62384/Chris-Benoit-19672007 |date=December 2, 2017 }}, MetaFilter.com; accessed June 30, 2015.</ref>

This onscreen relationship developed into a real-life affair offscreen. As a result, Sullivan and Benoit had a contentious backstage relationship at best, and an undying hatred for each other at worst. Benoit did, however, admit having a certain amount of respect for Sullivan, saying on the DVD ''[[Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story]]'' that Sullivan never took undue liberties in the ring during their feud, even though he blamed Benoit for breaking up his marriage. This continued for over the course of a year with Sullivan having his [[enforcer (professional wrestling)|enforcers]] apprehend Benoit in a multitude of matches. This culminated in a [[retirement match]] at the [[Bash at the Beach 1997|Bash at the Beach]], where Benoit defeated Sullivan; this was used to explain Sullivan going to a behind-the-scenes role, where he could focus on his initial job of booking.

[[File:Chris Benoit 1999 (03).jpg|thumb|right|upright|Benoit in 1999]]
In 1998, Benoit had a long feud with [[Booker T (wrestler)|Booker T]]. They fought over the [[WCW World Television Championship]] until Booker lost the title to [[Dave Finlay|Fit Finlay]].<ref name="Titles"/> Booker won a "Best-of-Seven" series which was held between the two to determine a number one contender. Benoit went up 3 to 1 before Booker caught up, forcing the 7th and final match on [[WCW Monday Nitro|''Monday Nitro'']]. During the match, [[Bret Hart]] interjected himself, interfering on behalf of Benoit in an attempt to get him to join the [[New World Order (professional wrestling)|New World Order]]. Benoit refused to win that way and told the referee what happened, getting himself disqualified. Booker refused that victory, instead opting for an eighth match at the [[Great American Bash 1998|Great American Bash]] to see who would fight Finlay later that night. Booker won the final match and went on to beat Finlay for the title.<ref name="Titles"/> This feud significantly elevated both men's careers as singles competitors, and both remained at the top of the midcard afterward.

In 1999, Benoit teamed with Dean Malenko once again and defeated [[Curt Hennig]] and [[Barry Windham]] to win the [[WCW World Tag Team Championship]].<ref name="Titles"/> This led to a reformation of the Four Horsemen with the tag team champions, Anderson, and [[Steve McMichael|Steve "Mongo" McMichael]]. The two hunted after the tag team championship for several months, feuding with teams like [[Raven (wrestler)|Raven]] and [[Perry Saturn]] or [[Billy Kidman]] and [[Rey Mysterio Jr.]]

==== The Revolution and World Heavyweight Champion (1999&ndash;2000) ====
After a falling out with Anderson and McMichael, Benoit and Malenko left the Horsemen; he won the [[WWE United States Championship|WCW United States Heavyweight Championship]]<ref name="Titles"/> before bringing together Malenko, Perry Saturn, and [[Shane Douglas]] to form "[[Revolution (WCW)|the Revolution]]".

The Revolution was a heel stable of younger wrestlers who felt slighted (both kayfabe and legitimate) by WCW management, believing they never gave them the chance to be stars, [[Push (professional wrestling)|pushing]] older, more established wrestlers instead, despite their then-current questionable worthiness of their pushes. This led to the Revolution seceding from WCW, and forming their own nation, complete with a flag. This led to some friction being created between Benoit and leader, Douglas, who called into question Benoit's heart in the group, causing Benoit to quit the group, thus turning face, and having his own crusade against the top stars, winning the Television title one more time and the United States title from [[Jeff Jarrett]] in a [[ladder match]]. In October 1999 on ''Nitro'' in [[Kansas City, Missouri]], Benoit wrestled Bret Hart as a tribute to Bret's brother [[Owen Hart]], who had recently died due to an [[Over the Edge (1999)#Owen Hart accident|equipment malfunction]]. Hart defeated Benoit by submission, and the two received a standing ovation, and an embrace from guest ring announcer, [[Harley Race]].

Benoit was unhappy working for WCW.<ref name="unhappy">{{cite web |url=http://slam.canoe.com/SlamWrestlingArchive/apr17_ring.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150609123857/http://slam.canoe.com/SlamWrestlingArchive/apr17_ring.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 9, 2015 |title=Ring of intrigue in WWF shows |last=Cole |first=Glenn |date=April 17, 1999 |work=SLAM! Sports |publisher=[[Canadian Online Explorer]] |access-date=May 12, 2009}}</ref> One last attempt in January 2000 was made to try to keep him with WCW, by putting the vacant [[WCW World Heavyweight Championship]] on him by defeating [[Sid Eudy|Sid Vicious]] at [[Souled Out 2000|Souled Out]].<ref name="Titles"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Souled Out 2000 |work=Pro Wrestling History |url=http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wcw/nwoppv.html#99 |access-date=October 3, 2007 |archive-date=June 23, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080623094940/http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wcw/nwoppv.html#99 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, due to disagreements with management and to protest the promotion of Kevin Sullivan to head booker,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/other/timelin5.htm |title=Wrestling Information Archive - Wrestling Timeline: (1999 - Present) |date=August 4, 2001|url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010804085453/http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/other/timelin5.htm |archive-date=August 4, 2001}}</ref> Benoit left WCW the next day alongside his friends [[Eddie Guerrero]], Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn, forfeiting his title in the process.<ref name="unhappy"/> WCW then refused to acknowledge Benoit's victory as an official title reign, and Benoit's title reign was not listed in the title lineage at WCW.com.<ref name="WCW.com">{{cite web |title=World Heavyweight Champion and WCW/NWA Title History |publisher=WCW.com |url=http://www.wcw.com/2000/superstars/world/ |access-date=October 20, 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000817233603/http://www.wcw.com/2000/superstars/world/ |archive-date=August 17, 2000}}</ref> However, the WWF recognized Benoit's title win, and Benoit's title reign is still listed in the title lineage at WWE.com.<ref name="WWE.com">{{cite web |title=WCW World Championship |publisher=WWE.com |url=http://www.wwe.com/classics/titlehistory/wcwchampionship |access-date=October 20, 2016 |archive-date=July 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715203500/http://www.wwe.com/classics/titlehistory/wcwchampionship |url-status=live }}</ref> Benoit spent the next few weeks in Japan before heading to the WWF, who acknowledged his WCW World Heavyweight Championship win and presented him as a former world champion.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chris Benoit |publisher=WWE.com |url=http://raw.wwe.com/superstars/benoit_c/index.html |access-date=October 23, 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020802221928/http://raw.wwe.com/superstars/benoit_c/index.html |archive-date=August 2, 2002}}</ref>