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June 26, 2007
4 Real Chris Benoit was never my favorite wrestler. He was by all accounts a great professional wrestler, one of the finest of his generation. Benoit's trademarks were his technical excellence, aggression, the ability to make his opponents look better than they were, and an uncanny knack for making the action in the ring appear "real", that is to say, credible and believable. While I enjoyed his matches -- many were great matches -- and held him in high regard when he wrestled, otherwise, he never did much for me. In the debate over which is better, "steak" or "sizzle", I always tend to lean more towards sizzle. Among the men and woman I have classified as my favorite wrestlers (The Undertaker, Edge, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Trish Stratus), Benoit simply did not belong. Benoit didn't have an outlandish character or personality, which is what I gravitate towards. He wasn't an entertainer. He usually just wrestled, but he wrestled better than most. I simply prefered others. Who Chris Benoit was away from the ring, I had no idea. Didn't give it a moment of thought, until yesterday. I note all of this perhaps as a way to provide some small solace for myself that one of my favorites, one of my personal wrestling heroes, was not capable of the atrocities Chris Benoit committed this past weekend. It's of negligible comfort. As the facts behind the deaths of Chris, Nancy and 7 year old Daniel Benoit have been revealed, the evidence has concluded that Chris Benoit murdered his wife and son and then committed suicide. The details are elsewhere; in the last day for me, it felt like they were everywhere. This flies in the face of everything his peers said about him last night during his tribute on Monday Night RAW. Colleagues and friends, some who'd known him for 15 years and considered him a member of their families, did not suspect that Benoit was capable of what he did. And how could they? Chavo Guerrero, whose uncle Eddie Guerrero, Benoit's best friend, succumbed to a life hard lived two years ago, tearfully told what is now an eerie story of how "just last week" Benoit welcomed him into his home, fed him, and put him up for the night. Can you imagine what Chavo is feeling now that the truth about what Benoit did has been told? Today, Sean sent an email with a gut-wrenching observation, that we and thousands of others at the Fleetcenter gave Chris Benoit, a double murderer, a standing ovation at the 2003 Royal Rumble. But we couldn't have known then. No one could have ever dreamed what Benoit would do four years later. It's uncomfortable to think about. Last night, WWE did the best they could in short notice under seemingly impossible circumstances. In an unprecidented move, they canceled the planned version of Monday Night RAW and sent all the fans home. WWE put together a very classy, heartfelt and respectful tribute to Chris Benoit's life and career, as well as his son Daniel and his wife Nancy. They showed clips of him in ECW old and new, his last televised match, him in Japan early in his career, a WCW match with one of his best friends with his wife at ringside (horrible how in that match, Benoit, Nancy and Elizabeth are now all dead), and they showed as the last match the best choice: Benoit winning the World Title in the main event at WrestleMania and celebrating with Eddie. I was both glad and deeply saddened that the final image was the two of them together in their greatest moment of triumph. Benoit was a member of the WWE family; the people who make up that expended family worked with him, knew him and his family, and many were as close to him as non-family members could possibly be. They are all people and I'm sure they are even more heartbroken, confused, angry, and numb than the fans are because they knew him and saw him 300 days a year. I'm sure most if not all of the talent were in no emotional shape to perform and the McMahons made sure they didn't have to. The announcers did and performed admirably. It said a lot that the company turned away the fans and gave up the money they could have made in merchandise and concessions. No one was interested in profit. They wanted to respect their employee, colleague, and friend. All of that occurred before they learned how the Benoits died and what Chris Benoit did. Little did they know, they paid a three hour tribute to a killer. Today, WWE pulled all bios, videos, and merchandise of Chris Benoit from their website. He is being erased from WWE's history as quickly as possible. WWE is embarrassed as company. More importantly, the hundreds of people who comprise WWE and the other wrestling promotions Benoit worked for, from the people behind the scenes to the wrestlers who worked and traveled with Benoit, to Vince McMahon himself, are all embarrassed and preparing for the inevitable attacks and blame placed towards them. They are bracing for the worst. The favorite usual suspect, steroid-induced "roid rage", is already being rounded up. Neither the professional wrestling industry as a whole nor WWE as its largest commodity and Benoit's employer, are run by angels, but neither can be blamed for whatever would lead a man to deliberately murder his wife, young son, and then kill himself. What Chris Benoit did is unforgivable. He and he alone is completely responsible. There is no justice to be had, no punishment to be meted out. The victims are dead, their killer is dead. The questions may never be fully answered. The entire saga is sad, terrible, and tragic, but it's over. Two days ago, when I tuned into WWE programming, my only concerns were how lousy the Vengeance pay per view was, how annoying the unbeatable John Cena is, how much I fucking love how Edge continues to cheat the odds and survive as World Heavyweight Champion, and what was going to happen on RAW with the "dead" Mr. McMahon storyline. Now, I can't wait for time to move forward so we can slowly get back to that. Get back to what WWE is all about: the suspension of disbelief, the theatre of the absurd, the best show on Earth, even when they give a bad show. Every time reality intrudes on WWE, it brings sadness and usually death. I'll be glad to forget all about Chris Benoit. 4 real. |
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