"He was a hell of a worker" - Black Bart remembers the late Chris Benoit (Exclusive)
On SK Wrestling's UnSKripted, former professional wrestler Black Bart spoke about his close friendship with the late Chris Benoit. Bart even recalled how he put Benoit over in a match.
Black Bart is a former professional wrestler who had an incredible 27-year career in the wrestling business. During his time, he worked with a number of promotions, including Jim Crockett promotions, WCW and WWF. While working across numerous NWA territories, he held ten different championships.
In an interview with Dr. Chris Featherstone on UnSKripted, Black Bart discussed his time with WCW and recalled how he was once called in to put over a young Chris Benoit. He shared details of the match, a match he believes tore the house down. However, backstage officials weren't too happy about this. Bart revealed what Benoit's response to the heat he was getting.
"I went to the daggum ring and put Chris Benoit over, on TV. We burnt the daggum place down. He was a hell of a worker. Arn Anderson met me at the doorway and said "What are you doing? I'm trying to make him one of the horsemen", and Chris pushed me aside and said, "What's wrong Arn? Nobody can follow that match?". Chris did that for me," said Black Bart.
Bart recalled how Chris Benoit stood up for him against Arn Anderson and how Benoit boldly questioned Anderson about the quality of talent present in the arena.
Black Bart on the controversy surrounding Chris Benoit
There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Chris Benoit following his passing. Benoit committed suicide in 2007 after murdering both his wife and child. Despite this, Black Bart still claims to be a friend of Benoit no matter what.
"There is bad stuff on Chris Benoit and all that stuff, but he is still my friend no matter what he did or didn't do. It's hard. Some things you don't understand. With Chris Benoit I don't understand." said Black Bart
WWE erased Chris Benoit from their history after the incident, including his championship reigns. In 2009, Vince McMahon stated that WWE would be willing to include Benoit as a part of a historical perspective but would not promote him in any manner.