Bruce Prichard on The Radicalz Leaving WCW, Other Guys Wanting to Go, Chris Benoit Being Frustrated Despite Winning WCW Title

On the latest Something to Wrestle With, Bruce Prichard discussed the WCW departure of the group that would be known in WWE as The Radicalz. The Radicalz were of course Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko, all of whom left WCW in 2000 amidst extreme frustration with the company’s environment and backstage culture. Benoit in particular left despite winning the the WCW World Heavyweight Title at Souled Out.

Discussing some of the aspects of the group’s jump to WCW, Prichard recalled how several other people wanted to leave WCW as well and how the foursome stuck together in the midst of their exit, as well as Benoit’s mindset when he walked away from the title. Highlights and the full podcast on The Radicalz are below:

On whether Saturn mentioned all the others who wanted to leave: “Perry mentioned specifically Benoit, Guerrero, and Malenko. And he also made it very clear that he was only speaking for those four guys [including himself], and that other people may ask for their release and that other people may be contacting us. But he did want to make it clear, as did all four of those guys, that those four were together and they wanted to come in together. But that there was no one else — like their wasn’t a fifth or a sixth or a seventh or ten — that were a part of their group. You know what I mean? It was like, those four were looking to come as a unit. And everyone said to a man, ‘Look if you don’t want us, at least take Benoit’ because they felt that Benoit would have a pretty tough time there with Kevin Sullivan and Mike Graham. So that was a constant throughout the entire negotiation and every time that we talked, just letting us know that ‘Other guys will contact you and say, ‘Hey we’re a part of them.’ They’re not.’ And that came from all four guys.”

On Benoit being frustrated when he left WCW: “Yeah, [I talked to him about it] because he was very frustrated. He wanted out. He just didn’t – I think that Chris would have gone anywhere, other than go back there. So it was a big frustration, and he felt it was over, and that was not someplace that he wanted to work no matter who was in charge. I think you could have put him in charge and he wouldn’t have wanted to work there, just because there was so much distrust. And he’s right. By that point the championship meant less than nothing. And you know, ‘Okay yeah, I’m the champion. I’m the champion of what?’ The champion of a guy sitting behind the table pointing fingers like Steinbrenner in Seinfeld? It had been reduced to — it has just been reduced to nothing. And there was still some really great talent that was over there, but the glory years had passed them by, and they were on that big decline.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Something to Wrestle with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.