As many know, I am a WWE fan. I've always enjoyed watching professional wrestling. I've always known it's fake. It's like a soap opera for men. Sadly though, reality has set into it.
On the weekend of June 23rd, a wrestler by the name of Chris Benoit committed an unspeakable horror. He murdered his wife and 7 year old son in their home outside of Atlanta, Ga. He then committed suicide by hanging himself on his weight machine. No definite reason has come out as to why this happened, as no suicide note was found. Steriods were found in the home, along with other prescription drugs. Chris Benoit's doctor has since been arrested and charged with distribution of illegal drugs, namely steroids.
There are so many theories as to what caused Benoit to commit these monstrous acts. From "roid rage" to his son having Fragile X and the stress that entails, I think I've heard all of them. I have no insight into this part of it. I didn't know Benoit outside of watching him on TV.
I've also heard criticisms regarding the tribute show that WWE did the night they found out about the tragedy. At the time, they did not know the facts regarding the case. As the show progressed, the facts slowly came out. I'm in agreement with what they did with the facts they knew. The next night, on their ECW show, Vince McMahon, for all intents and purposes, apologized for the show. Since then, there is NO mention of Chris Benoit (save for the title history section), all of his merchandise taken off, any mention of him in their DVD sections erased. I agree with that as well.
Since then, the media has been all over this case. I saw a show on Fox News (ya know, the Fair and Balanced news channel) last night with three former WWE stars who all had different opinions about the matter regarding Steroids. The hosts of the show were very combative and wouldn't let rational thought get involved. They basically tried to say that all WWE entertainers are on Steriods. This forms the basis of every news media's view on professional wrestling. It's sad that mainstream media only focus' in on it when there is a death. And it's always about "HE/She was on sterioids." It's sad that I never hear about the performers going to Iraq and performing for the troops in a war zone. I don't see J-Lo doing that. I don't see 50 Cent doing that. I respect the WWE for doing those shows for the troops. They deserve that much.
So, after all of that, how do I feel about Chris Benoit? Benoit was one of my favorites. He didn't talk much, but I was fine with that. He was about the action. He probably had one of the feel good stories in the WWE, when he won the WWE title at Wrestlemania 20, which if you've seen any coverage of this tragedy, you've seen it. Him, with his wife and son in the ring. That was a great moment. I've been having a hard time separating Chris Benoit the performer, and Chris Benoit, the man. The man was a monster. I can't even imagine hurting my kids or my wife. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this. I probably always will. In the wrestling business, from what I've read and been told by former wrestlers, you are only as good as your last match. In life, you are only as good as your last acts. In this case, Chris Benoit is a monster. He'll always be remembered as such by me.
Nancy and Daniel Benoit, I hope you rest in peace, and are in a better place now. You didn't deserve what happened to you.
