Chronicles of The Crippler Chris Benoit Chapter 3: Japan

Joe King

At one time, ‘The Crippler’ Chris Benoit was one of the best mat technicians in the entire world of professional wrestling. His absolute heinous and inexcusable crimes against his wife Nancy and son Daniel are unforgivable. We are in no way celebrating or condoning his crimes. Joe King is simply chronicling Benoit’s rise to fame as a pro wrestler.

Chris Benoit would first arrive in Tokyo at the age of 19. He was picked up at the airport by another rookie named Daryl Peterson, who was aspiring to become a heavy metal character called Lucifer Payne. The two would become really close friends as they were the only “Young Boys” to be training in the New Japan Dojo at the time. Together they would be forced to exercise until their body parts became rubber, beat in the ears until they became cauliflowered, and then squeezed with the tightest and strongest of headlocks by their elder Japanese teachers. Chris absolutely hated Japan. He hated the food, the culture, the trainers, and of course, the loneliness.

After a brief trip back home to Canada, he would tell everyone how much he hated it. But his mentors, such as the Hart Family and others, told him just how much it meant to have that badge of honor to go through and complete the training at the Dojo. After some thinking, Chris decided it was definitely worth it.

He would return to Japan to finish his training as a Young Boy. He had been closely watching and studying the styles of Japanese greats such as Tatsumi Fujinami & Akira Maeda. On January 2nd of 1987, “Dynamite” Chris Benoit made his New Japan Pro Wrestling debut after 5 months of training in the NJPW Dojo. Chris would garner instant credibility both in and out of the ring across the world. He became the first wrestler to graduate from both The Hart Dungeon and The NJPW Dojo.

After touring Japan as a Young Lion for 6 months, Chris was instructed to return to Canada to gain experience and build his physique. In 1990, Stampede would shut down due to financial reasons. This was the perfect time for him to return to The Land of The Rising Sun. Now a massive 205 pounds, Benoit was extremely massive for a Junior Heavyweight. With his size and brutal style, he was chosen as the perfect opponent to rival the hottest wrestler in Japan at the time, Jushin Thunder Liger. But with Chris’s bland look and mullet, he would be put under a mask and be called The Pegasus Kid.

Benoit would debut as Pegasus Kid at the Tokyo Dome in front of a sell-out crowd of over 64,000 fans. He tagged with the villainous Naoki Sano in a win over Jushin Liger & Akira Nogami. Later that week, the event would be aired on television and received an astronomical 23.2 rating! This meant that more people watched his debut as Pegasus Kid than had ever watched megastars in America such as Hulk Hogan. Just a few months later, he would defeat Liger for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Chris was the 2nd foreign wrestler to ever hold the prestigious championship. 

He would eventually lose the title back to Liger. Their feud even spilled over into Mexico in 1991, where Chris would lose his mask in a match against Liger. He would then have to reinvent himself as Wild Pegasus. He would then go on to win The Best of The Super Juniors Tournament in 1993 and again in 1995. In 1994, he won the first ever Super J-Cup Tournament by defeating Black Tiger, Gedo, and Great Sasuke in the finals.

While wrestling for NJPW, not only would he face such Japanese legends such as Tiger Mask, Jushin Liger, & The Great Sasuke…but Chris would also be introduced to wrestlers such as Black Tiger(Eddie Guerrero), Scott “Flash” Norton, Dean Malenko, and “Lionheart” Chris Jericho. Not only were they his all-time greatest rivals, they would also become his closest friends. These friendships would not only last throughout his career, they would remain his closest friends for the remainder of his life.