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He definitely had charisma. Not Steve Austin level charisma, but he definitely had charisma. He could have the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand with some of his actions in, and out of the ring. He was the third best talker in the Original Horseman, in a group that contained Ric Flair and Tully Blanchard. He wasn't over-the-top, but he talked in a way that made you pay attention, and made you give a shit.
I remember a tag match where, Kanyon and Raven were beaten down before a tag team title defense, so Benoit went against DDP and Bam Bam Bigelow alone. His manager, Arn Anderson, was frustrated because no one would help Benoit from his peril. I think it was DDP who slipped on the banana peel. And Benoit went to make the hot tag, but no one was there. In his frustration, Double A pulls off his shirt and hops on the apron for the tag. I was like "holy shit!" Then Saturn comes down and convinces Arn that he'll be Benoit's partner. That added to the match in a huge way, even a couple years removed from his career.
Another thing I always liked was in some of his TV Title defense against jobbers. He made you believe they had a shot. I also remember a couple of times some jobber would try to come off the top rope with an axehandle to put the Enforcer away, only to get countered... into a Spinebuster. The match ended from the dive, but not in the way expected.
He could have been a Transition Champion at the World Heavyweight level, but he never wanted it or so the story goes. Double A deserves mention in the Hall of Fame, for his role as a top notch working heel. Maybe one of the best to ever fit that category.
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