John Bradshaw Layfield says that of all the matches he had, one against Chris Benoit in Guadalajara, Mexico, was nearly perfect and impossible to duplicate.
JBL and Chris Benoit feuded in 2006 for the WWE United States Championship. Bradshaw even won the title from Benoit at WWE WrestleMania 22, months before his first retirement. During the most recent Something to Wrestle podcast, JBL was asked about the best technical wrestlers in the history of the industry. He said that while names like Bryan Danielson and Bret Hart are high up on the list, the best that he ever got the chance to share the ring with was Benoit.
He then went on to recall a live event match, which he says was the best of his career and something he and Benoit were unable to recreate ever again.
"It's hard to compare those two. They're both incredibly good. I don't know who'd be better between Bret and Daniel [Bryan]; those guys are on a different level. I'd say the best I think I ever worked with was Chris Benoit. I remember I had a match with Chris Benoit one time down in like, Guadalajara or something. I remember walking through the ring. It was just a live event. I remember walking through the (curtain) and Chris raised up his arms because the match was... I've never had a better match in the several thousand matches that I've had; that was the best match I've ever had. I remember walking back thinking, 'I can't do any better than that.' Chris walked through the curtain and just raised his arms, and he goes, 'Brother, I don't know what we did, but that was perfect.' We tried to do the same thing the next night, and we couldn't. We never could replicate it. But that night, everything hit on all cylinders, and there's no doubt in my mind that was the best match ever wrestled. But Chris was incredible. He was so good as a wrestler."
JBL and Benoit did wrestle each other and Guadalajara at the Benito Juarez Auditorium on January 20, 2006.
While those who shared the ring with Chris often praise his wrestling ability, his legacy is tarnished by the events of the final weekend of his life. In the summer of 2007, Chris took his own life after murdering his wife, Nancy "Woman" Benoit, and his son, Daniel Benoit. Learn more about that tragedy here.
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